MafiavsmaniWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,642
“Mafia” frequency rank
#39,519
“mani” frequency rank
47161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mafia mani
Definition organisierte Verbrecherorganisationen Plural des Substantivs mano

Where the eye mixes Mafia and mani

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Mafia runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against mani's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Mafia
4 ch
mani

Why the eye confuses Mafia with mani

A purely visual mix-up. Mafia ([ˈmafi̯a]) and mani ([ˈmaːni]) 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 47161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mafia is recorded at frequency rank #7,642, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmafi̯a]. mani is at rank #39,519, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːni].

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 47161, this pair ranks #1,294,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mafia vs mani

Shared letters: aim. Private to "Mafia": f. Private to "mani": n.

"Mafia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "mani" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mafiaamfia · mafai · maffia · maifa · mfaia · mmafia
  • manimanni · mmani · mnai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mafia" for "mani" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmafi̯a] versus [ˈmaːni]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mafia" or "mani"?
"Mafia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,642 in our German list, against #39,519 for "mani". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mafia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mani" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,294,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mafia" and "mani" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs mani". 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 #1,294,071 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