musevsmusterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,199
“muse” frequency rank
#16,757
“muster” frequency rank
29956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature muse muster
Definition Of a person: a source of inspiration. A gathering.

Where the eye mixes muse and muster

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
muse
6 ch
muster

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. muse (/mjuːz/) and muster (/ˈmʌs.tə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

muse is recorded at frequency rank #13,199, classified as anoun, pronounced /mjuːz/. muster is at rank #16,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmʌs.tə/.

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 29956, this pair ranks #358,599 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of muse vs muster

Shared letters: emsu. Private to "muse": -. Private to "muster": rt.

"muse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "muster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • musemmuse · msue · mues · musse · umse
  • mustermmuster · msuter · musetr · musster · musterr · mustre · mustter · mutser

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "muse" and "muster" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mjuːz/ versus /ˈmʌs.tə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "muse" or "muster"?
"muse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,199 in our English list, against #16,757 for "muster". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "muse" and "muster". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "muse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "muster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #358,599 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "muse" and "muster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "miser vs muster". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list