UnfugvsUnmutWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Unfug” and “Unmut” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,236
“Unfug” frequency rank
#14,692
“Unmut” frequency rank
29928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Unfug Unmut
Definition unsinniger oder ungehöriger Zustand; unsinnige oder ungehörige Handlung negative Einstellung zu etwas

Where the eye mixes Unfug and Unmut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Unfug and Unmut follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Unfug
5 ch
Unmut

Why the eye confuses Unfug with Unmut

A purely visual mix-up. Unfug ([ˈʊnfuːk]) and Unmut ([ˈʊnˌmuːt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Unfug is recorded at frequency rank #15,236, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʊnfuːk]. Unmut is at rank #14,692, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʊnˌmuːt].

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 29928, this pair ranks #1,757,623 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Unfug vs Unmut

Shared letters: nu. Private to "Unfug": fg. Private to "Unmut": mt.

"Unfug" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Unmut" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Unfug ← nufug · ufnug · unffug · unfgu · unfugg · unnfug · unufg
  • Unmut ← numut · umnut · unmmut · unmtu · unmutt · unnmut · unumt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Unfug" and "Unmut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnfuːk] versus [ˈʊnˌmuːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Unfug" or "Unmut"?
"Unmut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,692 in our German list, against #15,236 for "Unfug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Unfug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Unmut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,757,623 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Unfug" and "Unmut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Unfug vs unklug". 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 #1,757,623 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