MahlvsmarConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#24,039
“Mahl” frequency rank
#10,521
“mar” frequency rank
34560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mahl mar
Definition Vorgang, bei dem Essen zu sich genommen wird, gespeist wird etwas stören, beeinträchtigen, beschädigen, verderben, verunstalten

Where the eye mixes Mahl and mar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Mahl
3 ch
mar

Look-alike desk: Mahl vs mar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mahl is [maːl] while mar is [mɑːʳ]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34560, 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]. mar is at rank #10,521, tagged as averb, pronounced [mɑːʳ].

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 34560, this pair ranks #1,660,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mahl vs mar

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mahl": hl. Private to "mar": r.

"Mahl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mahlamhl · mahhl · mahll · malh · mhal · mmahl

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mahl" for "mar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mahl" is a noun and "mar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Mahl" or "mar" show up more?
"mar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,521 in our German list, against #24,039 for "Mahl". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mahl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,660,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mahl" and "mar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mahl 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 #1,660,489 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