# moose

> English word · Noun · IPA /muːs/ · frequency rank #12,809

## Definitions
1. The largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus, sometimes included in Alces alces), of which the male has very large, palmate antlers.
2. Any of the extinct moose-like deer of the genera Cervalces and Libralces.
3. An 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”).

## Easily confused with
- **MoS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-mos)
- **more** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-more)
- **most** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-most)
- **move** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-move)
- **moss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-moss)
- **muse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-muse)
- **moot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-moot)
- **mosh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-mosh)
- **mote** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-mote)
- **movie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-movie)
- **mouse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-mouse)
- **Moses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-moses)
- **Morse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-morse)
- **Moshe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-moshe)
- **moser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-moser)
- **mossy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-mossy)
- **mousse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-mousse)
- **morsel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moose-vs-morsel)
- **moe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moe-vs-moose)
- **moo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moo-vs-moose)

## Common misspellings (6)
`mmoose`, `mooes`, `moosse`, `mose`, `mosoe`, `omose`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/moose