Which to use
“move” is a verb and “mute” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #447
- “move” frequency rank
- #11,919
- “mute” frequency rank
- 12366
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | move | mute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To change place or posture; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another. | Not having the power of speech; dumb. |
Where the eye mixes move and mute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between move and mute
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: move is /muːv/ while mute is /mjuːt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
move is recorded at frequency rank #447, classified as averb, pronounced /muːv/. mute is at rank #11,919, tagged as anadj, pronounced /mjuːt/.
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 12366, this pair ranks #481,973 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of move vs mute
Shared letters: em. Private to "move": ov. Private to "mute": tu.
"move" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "move" for "mute" ever safe?
Which is more common, "move" or "mute"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "move" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #481,973 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "move" and "mute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muda 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 #481,973 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.