muff
/mʌf/
"muff" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“muff” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,774 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #41,774
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
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 | muff |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mʌf/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #41,774 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “muff” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for muff is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mʌf/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,774 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for muff, with forms such as "mfuf", "mmuff", and "muf". 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, "mum", "mug", "mun", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”). The correct English form is muff, spelled M-U-F-F.
Definition
- 1A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
- 2The vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.
- 3A woman or girl.
- 4A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
- 5The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
- 6A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe.
Etymology
Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mfuf,mmuff,muf,umff
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of muff - 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
How do you spell "muff"?
What does "muff" mean?
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Using “muff”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-U-F-F - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /mʌf/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mum” - see the side-by-side comparison. muff vs mum
- 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.