Which to use
“Mafia” and “Marie” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,642
- “Mafia” frequency rank
- #3,138
- “Marie” frequency rank
- 10780
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mafia | Marie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | organisierte Verbrecherorganisationen | Geld |
Where the eye mixes Mafia and Marie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Mafia and Marie follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Mafia with Marie
A purely visual mix-up. Mafia ([ˈmafi̯a]) and Marie ([maˈʁiː]) 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 10780, 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]. Marie is at rank #3,138, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maˈʁiː].
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 10780, this pair ranks #1,973,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Mafia vs Marie
Shared letters: aim. Private to "Mafia": f. Private to "Marie": er.
"Mafia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "Marie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Mafia" for "Marie" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Mafia" or "Marie"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Mafia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Marie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,973,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Mafia" and "Marie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mafia vs marcia". 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 #1,973,347 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.