MachtvsMautWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#134
“Macht” frequency rank
#8,753
“Maut” frequency rank
8887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Macht Maut
Definition Fähigkeit, auf andere Einfluss ausüben zu können, auch gegen deren Willen Zoll

Where the eye mixes Macht and Maut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Macht
4 ch
Maut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Macht ([maxt]) and Maut ([maʊ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Macht is recorded at frequency rank #134, classified as anoun, pronounced [maxt]. Maut is at rank #8,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊ̯t].

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 8887, this pair ranks #1,982,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Macht vs Maut

Shared letters: amt. Private to "Macht": ch. Private to "Maut": u.

"Macht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Maut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Machtamcht · maccht · machht · machtt · macth · mahct · mcaht · mmacht
  • Mautamut · matu · mautt · mmaut · muat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Macht" and "Maut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([maxt] versus [maʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Macht" or "Maut"?
"Macht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #134 in our German list, against #8,753 for "Maut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Macht" and "Maut". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Macht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Maut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,982,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Macht" and "Maut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs Maut". 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

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list