molevsmuseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mole” and “muse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,745
“mole” frequency rank
#13,199
“muse” frequency rank
24944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mole muse
Definition A naevus, a pigmented, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy spot on the skin. Of a person: a source of inspiration.

Where the eye mixes mole and muse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mole
4 ch
muse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mole (/məʊl/) and muse (/mjuːz/) 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 24944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mole is recorded at frequency rank #11,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /məʊl/. muse is at rank #13,199, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mjuːz/.

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 24944, this pair ranks #398,103 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mole vs muse

Shared letters: em. Private to "mole": lo. Private to "muse": su.

"mole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "muse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • molemloe · mmole · moel · molle · omle
  • musemmuse · msue · mues · musse · umse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mole" and "muse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/məʊl/ versus /mjuːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mole" or "muse"?
"mole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,745 in our English list, against #13,199 for "muse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list