Which to use
“muerte” is a noun and “mueve” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #305
- “muerte” frequency rank
- #3,429
- “mueve” frequency rank
- 3734
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | muerte | mueve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fin de la vida, en especial de una persona | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de mover. |
Where the eye mixes muerte and mueve
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses muerte with mueve
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: muerte is [ˈmweɾt̪e] while mueve is [ˈmweβ̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
muerte is recorded at frequency rank #305, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmweɾt̪e]. mueve is at rank #3,429, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmweβ̞e].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 3734, this pair ranks #317,684 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of muerte vs mueve
Shared letters: emu. Private to "muerte": rt. Private to "mueve": v.
"muerte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "mueve" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "muerte" for "mueve" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "muerte" or "mueve" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "muerte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mueve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,684 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "muerte" and "mueve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mueve vs muévete". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #317,684 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.