KarinvsMaryWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Karin” and “Mary” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,779
“Karin” frequency rank
#4,536
“Mary” frequency rank
12315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Karin Mary
Definition schwedischer weiblicher Vorname weiblicher Vorname

Letter map: Karin vs Mary

Shared letters muted; letters that set Karin and Mary apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. Karin runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Mary's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Karin
4 ch
Mary

Spelling & dictionary notes on Karin vs Mary

Karin and Mary are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Karin is recorded at frequency rank #7,779, classified as aname, pronounced […]. Mary is at rank #4,536, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 12315, this pair ranks #1,964,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Karin vs Mary

Shared letters: ar. Private to "Karin": ikn. Private to "Mary": my.

"Karin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Mary" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Karin ← akrin · kairn · karinn · karni · karrin · kkarin · krain
  • Mary ← amry · marry · maryy · mmary · mray

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Karin" for "Mary" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Karin" vs "Mary" - which ranks higher?
"Mary" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,536 in our German list, against #7,779 for "Karin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Karin" and "Mary". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Karin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mary" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,964,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Karin" and "Mary" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Karin vs puzzles". 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 #1,964,909 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list