moose
/muːs/
"moose" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“moose” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,809 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,809
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus, sometimes included in Alces alces), of which the male has very large, palmate antlers.
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 | moose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /muːs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,809 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “moose” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for moose is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /muːs/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,809 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for moose, with forms such as "mmoose", "mooes", and "moosse". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MoS", "more", "most", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Earlier mus, moos, from an Eastern Algonquian language name for the animal, such as Massachusett moos, mws, Narragansett moos or Penobscot mos (cognate to Abenaki moz), from Proto-Algonquian *mo·swa (“it strips”), referring to how a moose strips tree bark w… The correct English form is moose, spelled M-O-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1The largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus, sometimes included in Alces alces), of which the male has very large, palmate antlers.
- 2Any of the extinct moose-like deer of the genera Cervalces and Libralces.
- 3An ugly person.
Etymology
Earlier mus, moos, from an Eastern Algonquian language name for the animal, such as Massachusett moos, mws, Narragansett moos or Penobscot mos (cognate to Abenaki moz), from Proto-Algonquian *mo·swa (“it strips”), referring to how a moose strips tree bark when feeding: compare Massachusett moos-u (“he strips, cuts smooth”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmoose,mooes,moosse,mose,mosoe,omose
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of moose - 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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “moose”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-O-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /muːs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “MoS” - see the side-by-side comparison. moose vs MoS
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.