MahlvsMalsConfusable pair

Quick tell: Mahl is a noun, Mals is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Mahl” is a noun and “Mals” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,039
“Mahl” frequency rank
#48,319
“Mals” frequency rank
72358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mahl Mals
Definition Vorgang, bei dem Essen zu sich genommen wird, gespeist wird eine Gemeinde in Südtirol

Letter map: Mahl vs Mals

Shared letters muted; letters that set Mahl and Mals apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Mahl and Mals follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Mahl
4 ch
Mals

Role in the sentence - Mahl and Mals

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Mahl is anoun and Malsaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mahl is recorded at frequency rank #24,039, classified as anoun, pronounced [maːl]. Mals is at rank #48,319, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 72358, this pair ranks #390,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Mahl vs Mals

Shared letters: alm. Private to "Mahl": h. Private to "Mals": s.

"Mahl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Mals" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mahl ← amhl · mahhl · mahll · malh · mhal · mmahl
  • Mals ← amls · malls · malss · masl · mlas · mmals

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mahl" and "Mals" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mahl" is a noun and "Mals" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Mahl" or "Mals"?
"Mahl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,039 in our German list, against #48,319 for "Mals". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Mahl" and "Mals". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mahl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mals" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #390,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mahl" and "Mals" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs puzzles". 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 #390,605 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