must
\mœst\
The verdict
“must” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #16,189 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,189
- frequency rank, French
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Devoir incontournable ; obligation sociale.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | must |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \mœst\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #16,189 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “must” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for must is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \mœst\. Corpus data places it at rank #16,189 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for must, with forms such as "mmust", "msut", and "musst". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "muy", "muté", "ms", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is must, spelled M-U-S-T.
Definition
- 1Devoir incontournable ; obligation sociale.
- 2Chose superficielle mais plaisante.
- 3Ce qu’il y a de mieux.
This word in other languages
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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “must”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is M-U-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \mœst\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “muy” - see the side-by-side comparison. must vs muy
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.