magicvsMaisConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,769
“magic” frequency rank
#9,409
“Mais” frequency rank
19178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magic Mais
Definition Magie, Zauberei, Zauberkunst Botanik:

Where the eye mixes magic and Mais

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
magic
4 ch
Mais

Why the eye confuses magic with Mais

A purely visual mix-up. magic ([mæd͡ʒɪk]) and Mais ([maɪ̯s]) 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 19178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magic is recorded at frequency rank #9,769, classified as anoun, pronounced [mæd͡ʒɪk]. Mais is at rank #9,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯s].

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 19178, this pair ranks #1,911,043 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of magic vs Mais

Shared letters: aim. Private to "magic": cg. Private to "Mais": s.

"magic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Mais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magicamgic · magci · maggic · magicc · maigc · mgaic · mmagic
  • Maisamis · maiss · masi · mias · mmais

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "magic" and "Mais" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mæd͡ʒɪk] versus [maɪ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "magic" vs "Mais" - which ranks higher?
"Mais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,409 in our German list, against #9,769 for "magic". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "magic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,911,043 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "magic" and "Mais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mais 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 #1,911,043 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