MutevsmutigTell them apart

Quick tell: Mute is a noun, mutig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Mute” is a noun and “mutig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,098
“Mute” frequency rank
#7,210
“mutig” frequency rank
47308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mute mutig
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Mut voller Mut, Mut aufbringend

Where the eye mixes Mute and mutig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Mute
5 ch
mutig

Visual trap between Mute and mutig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mute is [ˈmuːtə] while mutig is [ˈmuːtɪç]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mute is recorded at frequency rank #40,098, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmuːtə]. mutig is at rank #7,210, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmuːtɪç].

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 47308, this pair ranks #1,288,902 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mute vs mutig

Shared letters: mtu. Private to "Mute": e. Private to "mutig": gi.

"Mute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mutig" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mutemmute · mtue · muet · umte
  • mutigmmutig · mtuig · muitg · mutgi · mutigg · muttig · umtig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mute" and "mutig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mute" is a noun and "mutig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Mute" or "mutig"?
"mutig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,210 in our German list, against #40,098 for "Mute". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mutig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,288,902 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mute" and "mutig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs Mute". 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 #1,288,902 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list