MacsvsMailConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#41,330
“Macs” frequency rank
#1,814
“Mail” frequency rank
43144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Macs Mail
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Mac E-Mail

Where the eye mixes Macs and Mail

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

4 ch
Macs
4 ch
Mail

Visual trap between Macs and Mail

A purely visual mix-up. Macs ([mɛks]) and Mail ([mɛɪ̯l]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Macs is recorded at frequency rank #41,330, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛks]. Mail is at rank #1,814, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɛɪ̯l].

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 43144, this pair ranks #1,427,290 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Macs vs Mail

Shared letters: am. Private to "Macs": cs. Private to "Mail": il.

"Macs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Mail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Macsamcs · maccs · macss · masc · mcas · mmacs
  • Mailamil · maill · mial · mmail

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Macs" and "Mail" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mɛks] versus [mɛɪ̯l]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Macs" vs "Mail" - which ranks higher?
"Mail" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,814 in our German list, against #41,330 for "Macs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Macs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mail" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,427,290 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Macs" and "Mail" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Macs 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 #1,427,290 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