ms

symbol

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

The verdict

“ms” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #6,112) as a symbol. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#6,112
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Symbole de la milliseconde, unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻³ seconde.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ms · ms · French

ms · rank #6,112 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,112
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH mette

Nearest frequency peer: mette (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “ms”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “ms” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

ms vs my
50% similar
ms vs Mt
0% similar
ms vs mu
50% similar

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

Key facts for ms
PropertyValue
Headwordms
LanguageFrench
Part of speechSymbol
Letters2
Frequency rank#6,112
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ms” sits in French frequency

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).ms lands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ms is neighbouring look-alikes ("my", "Mt", …), not just typos; it is asymbol. Frequency #6,112 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Gloss: "Symbole de la milliseconde, unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻³ seconde.".

ms doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "my", "Mt", "mu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is ms, spelled M-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Symbole de la milliseconde, unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻³ seconde.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Les règles du sprint en athlétisme stipulent depuis 2002 que, si un athlète quitte les starting blocks en moins de 100 ms (0,1 s) après le coup de feu, il sera sanctionné d'un faux départ.

Synonyms

msec

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

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ms"?
"ms" is spelled M-S.
What does "ms" mean?
As a symbol, "ms" means: Symbole de la milliseconde, unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻³ seconde.
What words are commonly confused with "ms"?
"ms" is commonly confused with "my", "Mt", "mu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "ms" come from?
"ms" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

What to do next

You've looked up "ms". Here's where to go from here.

  • "ms" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "my". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #6,112 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list