musk
/mʌsk/
"musk" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“musk” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,223 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,223
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A greasy secretion with a powerful odour, produced in a glandular sac of the male musk deer and used in the manufacture of perfumes.
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 | musk |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mʌsk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #15,223 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “musk” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for musk is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mʌsk/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,223 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 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 musk, with forms such as "mmusk", "msuk", and "muks". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "must", "mute", "mutt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English muske, borrowed from Old French musc, from Late Latin muscus, from Ancient Greek μόσχος (móskhos), from Middle Persian [script needed] (mwšk' /muʃk/) whence Persian مشک (mošk). Ultimately from Sanskrit मुष्क (muṣka, “testicle”), the sh… The correct English form is musk, spelled M-U-S-K.
Definition
- 1A greasy secretion with a powerful odour, produced in a glandular sac of the male musk deer and used in the manufacture of perfumes.
- 2A similar secretion produced by the otter and the civet.
- 3A synthetic organic compound used as a substitute for the above.
- 4The odour of musk.
- 5A musk deer (genus Moschus).
- 6A muskflower (Erythranthe moschata).
- 7A plant of the genus Erodium (Erodium moschatum); the musky heronsbill.
- 8A plant of the genus Muscari; grape hyacinth.
- 9The scent of human genitalia when aroused or unwashed.
Etymology
From Middle English muske, borrowed from Old French musc, from Late Latin muscus, from Ancient Greek μόσχος (móskhos), from Middle Persian [script needed] (mwšk' /muʃk/) whence Persian مشک (mošk). Ultimately from Sanskrit मुष्क (muṣka, “testicle”), the shape of the gland of animals secreting the substance being compared to human testicles, a diminutive of मूष् (mūṣ, “mouse”), the shape of human testicles being compared to mice, from Proto-Indo-European *muh₂s (“mouse”). Cognate with mouse.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmusk,msuk,muks,muskk,mussk,umsk
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of musk - 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 “musk”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-U-S-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /mʌsk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “must” - see the side-by-side comparison. musk vs must
- 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.