muss
/mʌs/
"muss" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“muss” is uncommon English (frequency #57,580 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,580
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.
Corpus desk
Index EN-muss · muss · English
muss · rank #57,580 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,580
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH musky
Nearest frequency peer: musky (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “muss”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Murph
Murph
42,426 corpus weight
- musicality
musicality
42,424 corpus weight
- musky
musky
42,422 corpus weight
- muss
muss
42,421 corpus weight
- München
München
42,418 corpus weight
- Nablus
Nablus
42,417 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “muss” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | muss |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /mʌs/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #57,580 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “muss” in English
Rare enough to double-check
muss is uncommon English at frequency #57,580 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /mʌs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for muss, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Related to mess (“disorder”). The correct English form is muss, spelled M-U-S-S.
Definition
- 1To rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how muss appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The old man affectionately mussed his grandson's hair.
Etymology
Related to mess (“disorder”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "muss", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).