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PlainSpell

mute

/mjut/adjective, noun, verb

mute is spelled M-U-T-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “moot vs mute” about 320 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, mute means “Not having the power of speech; dumb” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in mute?

Letters4: M-U-T-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is mute?

Mute appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce mute?

  • UK /mjuːt/
  • British /mjʉwt/
  • US /mjut/

Mute has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mute.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with mute

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

moot vs mute320 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with mute?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mute from its last stressed vowel (/ut/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of mute

  • muter comparative
  • mutest superlative
  • mutes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • muting participle, present
  • muted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does mute mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Not having the power of speech; dumb.

  2. 2

    Silent; not making a sound.

    […] The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou mutest among all the mute!

  3. 3

    Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.

  4. 4

    Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA stopped consonant; a stop.

  2. 2

    obsoleteAn actor who does not speak; a mime performer.

    As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:

  3. 3

    A person who does not have the power of speech.

  4. 4

    A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.

  5. 5

    An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.

  6. 6

    An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.

  7. 7

    A mute swan.

  8. 8

    An action of muting, especially in a discussion forum as a penalty for breaking rules.

  9. 9

    The faeces of a hawk or falcon.

verb

  1. 1

    To silence, to make quiet.

  2. 2

    To turn off the sound of.

    Please mute the music while I make a call.

  3. 3

    To cause the content or messages of (a social media account, a website, etc.) to no longer appear on one's feed, trigger notifications, or similar, especially without fully blocking.

  4. 4

    To cast off; to moult.

  5. 5

    archaicOf a bird: to defecate.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Mute in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmuet, assourdi (not having the power of speech), muette, silencieux, silencieuse (silent, not making a sound), sourdine (sordine)
Germanstumm (not having the power of speech), still (silent, not making a sound), Stummer, Stumme (person unable to speak), stummschalten (turn off the sound of)
Portuguesemudo (not having the power of speech), silenciar, mutar (turn off the sound of), carpideira (hired mourner, undertaker's assistant), calar, emudecer (silence, make quiet)
Spanishmudo (not having the power of speech), silenciar (turn off the sound of), plañidera (hired mourner, undertaker's assistant), enmudecer, callar, acallar (silence, make quiet)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does mute come from?

From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after mute