Deutsch homophones

Maier/Mayer/Mayr/Meier/Meyer

"Maier" is a name; "Meier" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #1 of 483 German groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "Maier" arrives as a name, while "Meier" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "ma" then splits - "Maier" (5 letters) vs "Mayer" (5).
Shared stem "ma" then splits - "Maier" (5 letters) vs "Mayr" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "Maier" is 5 letters, "Meier" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "Maier" is 5 letters, "Meyer" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "may" then splits - "Mayer" (5 letters) vs "Mayr" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "Mayer" is 5 letters, "Meier" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "Mayer" is 5 letters, "Meyer" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "Mayr" is 4 letters, "Meier" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "Mayr" is 4 letters, "Meyer" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "me" then splits - "Meier" (5 letters) vs "Meyer" (5).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer: mr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

Maier
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVC
Inventory aeimr · private aei
Mayer
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVC
Inventory aemry · private aey
Mayr
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory amry · private ay
Meier
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVC
Inventory eimr · private ei
Meyer
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVC
Inventory emry · private ey

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "Maier" when you mean: deutscher Familienname
Write "Mayer" when you mean: deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname mit häufigem Vorkommen
Write "Mayr" when you mean: deutscher Familienname
Write "Meier" when you mean: Beamter eines adligen oder geistlichen Grundherrn, der die Verwaltung und Bewirtschaftung des Haupthofes (Meierhof) übernahm, später Päch…
Write "Meyer" when you mean: deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

Maier ← amier · maeir · maierr · miaer · mmaier
Mayer ← amyer · maeyr · mayerr · mayre · mayyer · mmayer
Mayr ← amyr · mayrr · mayyr · mmayr · myar
Meier ← emier · meeir · meierr · meire · mieer · mmeier
Meyer ← emyer · meeyr · meyerr · meyre · meyyer · mmeyer

Each spelling

Maier

name · /ˈmaɪ̯ɐ/ · #10,691 frequency

deutscher Familienname

Mayer

name · /ˈmaɪ̯ɐ/ · #6,563 frequency

deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname mit häufigem Vorkommen

Mayr

name · /ˈmaɪ̯ɐ/ · #21,353 frequency

deutscher Familienname

Meier

noun · /ˈmaɪ̯ɐ/ · #7,789 frequency

Beamter eines adligen oder geistlichen Grundherrn, der die Verwaltung und Bewirtschaftung des Haupthofes (Meierhof) übernahm, später Pächter des größten Hofs

Meyer

name · /ˈmaɪ̯ɐ/ · #3,141 frequency

deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname