mackvsMaiTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,979
“mack” frequency rank
#586
“Mai” frequency rank
19565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mack Mai
Definition weites Kleidungsstück mit Ärmeln, das mindestens bis zu den Knien reicht und wasserdicht ist der fünfte Monat im Jahr

Where the eye mixes mack and Mai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mack
3 ch
Mai

Visual trap between mack and Mai

A purely visual mix-up. mack ([mæk]) and Mai ([maɪ̯]) 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 19565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mack is recorded at frequency rank #18,979, classified as anoun, pronounced [mæk]. Mai is at rank #586, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯].

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 19565, this pair ranks #1,907,015 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mack vs Mai

Shared letters: am. Private to "mack": ck. Private to "Mai": i.

"mack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mackamck · macck · mackk · makc · mcak · mmack

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mack" and "Mai" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mæk] versus [maɪ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mack" or "Mai"?
"Mai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #586 in our German list, against #18,979 for "mack". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "mack" and "Mai" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,907,015 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mack" and "Mai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mack vs Mals". 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 #1,907,015 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