mähenvsMaurenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mähen is a verb, Mauren is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mähen” is a verb and “Mauren” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,426
“mähen” frequency rank
#42,675
“Mauren” frequency rank
70101
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mähen Mauren
Definition mit der Sense, Sichel, mit einer Mähmaschine Pflanzen bis zum Ansatz dicht über dem Erdboden wegschneiden eine Gemeinde in Liechtenstein

Where the eye mixes mähen and Mauren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mähen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Mauren's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mähen
6 ch
Mauren

Why the eye confuses mähen with Mauren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mähen is [ˈmɛːən] while Mauren is [ˈmaʊ̯ʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mähen is recorded at frequency rank #27,426, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛːən]. Mauren is at rank #42,675, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈmaʊ̯ʁən].

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 70101, this pair ranks #456,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mähen vs Mauren

Shared letters: emn. Private to "mähen": hä. Private to "Mauren": aru.

"mähen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Mauren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mauren ← amuren · maruen · maurenn · maurne · maurren · mmauren · muaren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mähen" and "Mauren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mähen" is a verb and "Mauren" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mähen" vs "Mauren" - which ranks higher?
"mähen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,426 in our German list, against #42,675 for "Mauren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mähen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mauren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #456,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mähen" and "Mauren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mauren vs Mauser". 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 #456,414 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