magvsmotWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mag is a unknown, mot is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mag” is an unknown and “mot” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#411
“mag” frequency rank
#42,693
“mot” frequency rank
43104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mag mot
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv von mögen Wort

Where the eye mixes mag and mot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mag
3 ch
mot

Look-alike desk: mag vs mot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mag is [maːk] while mot is [mo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mag is recorded at frequency rank #411, classified as anunknown, pronounced [maːk]. mot is at rank #42,693, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mo].

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 43104, this pair ranks #1,428,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mag vs mot

Shared letters: m. Private to "mag": ag. Private to "mot": ot.

"mag" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mag" and "mot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mag" is an unknown and "mot" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mag" or "mot"?
"mag" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #411 in our German list, against #42,693 for "mot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,428,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mag" and "mot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mot". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,428,513 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