müssen
[ˈmʏsn̩]
The verdict
“müssen” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #154 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #154
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - unausweichlich gezwungen sein, etwas zu tun oder zu erleiden
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | müssen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈmʏsn̩] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #154 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “müssen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for müssen is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈmʏsn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #154 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for müssen, with forms such as "mmüssen", "msüsen", and "müsen". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "musst", "musste", "Muster", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is müssen, spelled M-Ü-S-S-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1unausweichlich gezwungen sein, etwas zu tun oder zu erleiden
- 2es ist notwendig, an diesen Ort zu gelangen
- 3den Drang zu einem Toilettenbesuch verspüren
- 4zum Ausdruck einer Vermutung oder Schlussfolgerung
- 5einem Vorhaben im Wege stehen und das Recht haben, es zuzulassen oder zu verhindern; eine Voraussetzung für etwas anderes (nicht notwendig Genanntes) sein
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmüssen,msüsen,müsen,müsesn,müssenn,müssne,müßen,ümssen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of müssen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “müssen, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/mussen
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "müssen"?
What does "müssen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "müssen"?
How do you pronounce "müssen"?
What language does "müssen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “müssen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is M-Ü-S-S-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈmʏsn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “musst” - see the side-by-side comparison. müssen vs musst
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Nearby German words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our German index: