must

/ˈmʌst/

//ˈmʌst// verb

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

The verdict

“must” has 6 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #23,144. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,144
frequency rank, Spanish
3,868
“M” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Deber, tener que.

Corpus desk

Index ES-must · must · Spanish

must · rank #23,144 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,144
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,868
  • PHOTO-FINISH movidas

Nearest frequency peer: movidas (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “must”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “must” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

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).

must vs muy
50% similar
must vs mute
50% similar
must vs mu
50% similar

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

Key facts for must
PropertyValue
Headwordmust
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈmʌst/
Letters4
Frequency rank#23,144
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “must”

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).mustcae aquí:

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

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “movidas” (#23,143), “naturalista” (#23,145), “navideño” (#23,146). Entre 3,868 lemas con “M”, “must” va en #23,144. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around must (IPA /ˈmʌst/), averb. Corpus frequency is #23,144 among 3,868 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Deber, tener que.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for must, with forms such as "mmust", "msut", and "musst". 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, "muy", "mute", "mu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is must, spelled M-U-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Deber, tener que.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmust
  • msut
  • musst
  • mustt
  • muts
  • umst

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of must - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

mmust1msut2musst1mustt1muts2umst2
Edit distance from "must"

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "must"?
"must" is spelled M-U-S-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmʌst/.
What does "must" mean?
As a verb, "must" means: Deber, tener que.
What words are commonly confused with "must"?
"must" is commonly confused with "muy", "mute", "mu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "must"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "must" is /ˈmʌst/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "must" come from?
"must" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "must", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mimo#23,137ovni#23,157losa#23,124left#23,120

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

oímos6 variantsKirk6 variantsviga6 variantsaloja6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list