MahlvsmlConfusable pair

Quick tell: Mahl is a noun, ml is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#24,039
“Mahl” frequency rank
#8,106
“ml” frequency rank
32145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mahl ml
Definition Vorgang, bei dem Essen zu sich genommen wird, gespeist wird Milliliter

Letter map: Mahl vs ml

Shared letters muted; letters that set Mahl and ml apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Mahl
2 ch
ml

Part-of-speech tell for Mahl / ml

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Mahl is anoun and mlanabbrev. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32145, 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]. ml is at rank #8,106, tagged as anabbrev.

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 32145, this pair ranks #1,713,764 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mahl vs ml

Shared letters: lm. Private to "Mahl": ah. Private to "ml": -.

"Mahl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "ml" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mahl" for "ml" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mahl" is a noun and "ml" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Mahl" or "ml"?
"ml" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,106 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.

Useful next steps

Pair "Mahl" vs "ml" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mahl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ml" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,713,764 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mahl" and "ml" 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 #1,713,764 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