mou

particle

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"mou" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mou” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #25,145) as a particle. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#25,145
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sentence-final particle, forms a tag question.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mou · mou · English

mou · rank #25,145 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #25,145
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH mora

Nearest frequency peer: mora (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “mou”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “mou” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mou vs my
33% similar
mou vs Mr
0% similar
mou vs MS
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mou
PropertyValue
Headwordmou
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechParticle
Letters3
Frequency rank#25,145
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “mou”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).moulands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “mora” (#25,144), “mules” (#25,146), “momentous” (#25,143). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mou” is #25,145. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mou is neighbouring look-alikes ("my", "Mr", …), not just typos; it is aparticle. Frequency #25,145 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Gloss: "Sentence-final particle, forms a tag question.".

No misspelling variants are generated for mou in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "my", "Mr", "MS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Cantonese 冇 (mou5), also influenced by Malay mau variant of mahu (“to want”). The correct English form is mou, spelled M-O-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sentence-final particle, forms a tag question.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how mou appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Kopitiam mou?
  2. Day trip mou?

Etymology

From Cantonese 冇 (mou5), also influenced by Malay mau variant of mahu (“to want”).

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

How do you spell "mou"?
"mou" is spelled M-O-U.
What does "mou" mean?
As a particle, "mou" means: Sentence-final particle, forms a tag question.
What words are commonly confused with "mou"?
"mou" is commonly confused with "my", "Mr", "MS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "mou"?
From Cantonese 冇 (mou5), also influenced by Malay mau variant of mahu (“to want”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mou", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mig#25,137OTT#25,157pia#25,172pug#25,180

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list