mousse

/muːs/

//muːs// noun

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

"mousse" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mousse” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #30,508. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,508
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An airy pudding served chilled, particularly chocolate mousse.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mousse · mousse · English

mousse · rank #30,508 · 5 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,508
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH nai

Nearest frequency peer: nai (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “mousse”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “mousse” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

mousse vs muse
67% similar
mousse vs mussel
67% similar
mousse vs moss
67% similar

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

Key facts for mousse
PropertyValue
Headwordmousse
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/muːs/
Letters6
Frequency rank#30,508
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “mousse”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).mousselands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “nai” (#30,509), “Mme” (#30,506), “naught” (#30,510). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mousse” is #30,508. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around mousse (IPA /muːs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #30,508 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for mousse, with forms such as "mmousse", "mosuse", and "mouses". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "muse", "mussel", "moss", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French mousse (“foam, froth”), from Old French mosse (“moss”), from Frankish or Old Dutch *mosa (“moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą (“moss, bog, marsh”). More at moss. The correct English form is mousse, spelled M-O-U-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An airy pudding served chilled, particularly chocolate mousse.
  2. 2
    A savory dish, of meat or seafood, containing gelatin.
  3. 3
    A styling cream used for hair.
  4. 4
    A stable emulsion of water and oil that is created by wave action churning the water where an oil spill occurs.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He slicked his hair back with mousse, but the cowlick still stuck up.
  2. Pretreatment of oil or sea water with dispersants or demulsifiers generally inhibits laboratory mousse formation with most of the oils and petroleum products tested (Berridge et al. , 1968b; Bridie et al. , 1980a,b).

Etymology

From French mousse (“foam, froth”), from Old French mosse (“moss”), from Frankish or Old Dutch *mosa (“moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą (“moss, bog, marsh”). More at moss.

This word in other languages

espuma(Español)mousse(Français)Schaumfestiger(Deutsch)musse(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmousse
  • mosuse
  • mouses
  • muosse
  • omusse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mousse - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

mmousse1mosuse2mouses2muosse2omusse2
Edit distance from "mousse"

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 "mousse"?
"mousse" is spelled M-O-U-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is /muːs/.
What does "mousse" mean?
As a noun, "mousse" means: An airy pudding served chilled, particularly chocolate mousse.
What words are commonly confused with "mousse"?
"mousse" is commonly confused with "muse", "mussel", "moss". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mousse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mousse" is /muːs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "mousse"?
From French mousse (“foam, froth”), from Old French mosse (“moss”), from Frankish or Old Dutch *mosa (“moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą (“moss, bog, marsh”). More at moss. 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 "mousse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

naught#30,510outrun#30,525maduro#30,489luster#30,486

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

Odell5 variantspfft5 variantskeene5 variantskaya5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list