Which to use
“must” is a verb and “Mut” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,712
- “must” frequency rank
- #2,405
- “Mut” frequency rank
- 14117
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | must | Mut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs musen | Geisteshaltung, bei der Handlungen in einer gefährlichen, kritischen oder waghalsigen Situation energisch und furchtlos ausgeführt werden |
Where the eye mixes must and Mut
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between must and Mut
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: must is [muːst] while Mut is [muːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
must is recorded at frequency rank #11,712, classified as averb, pronounced [muːst]. Mut is at rank #2,405, tagged as anoun, pronounced [muːt].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 14117, this pair ranks #1,953,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of must vs Mut
Shared letters: mtu. Private to "must": s. Private to "Mut": -.
"must" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Mut" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- must ← mmust · msut · mustt · muts · umst
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "must" for "Mut" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "must" or "Mut" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "must" and "Mut" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "must" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Mut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,953,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "must" and "Mut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "münz vs must". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,953,438 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.