MähnevsmahntWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#37,097
“Mähne” frequency rank
#21,687
“mahnt” frequency rank
58784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mähne mahnt
Definition Gesamtheit der langen Haare, die einigen Tieren, zum Beispiel Löwen oder Pferden, am Kopf wachsen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mahnen

Where the eye mixes Mähne and mahnt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Mähne (CVCCV) and mahnt (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Mähne
5 ch
mahnt

Look-alike desk: Mähne vs mahnt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mähne is [ˈmɛːnə] while mahnt is [maːnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mähne is recorded at frequency rank #37,097, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛːnə]. mahnt is at rank #21,687, tagged as averb, pronounced [maːnt].

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 58784, this pair ranks #849,466 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mähne vs mahnt

Shared letters: hmn. Private to "Mähne": eä. Private to "mahnt": at.

"Mähne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mahnt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mahnt ← amhnt · mahhnt · mahnnt · mahntt · mahtn · manht · mhant · mmahnt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mähne" and "mahnt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mähne" is a noun and "mahnt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Mähne" or "mahnt"?
"mahnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,687 in our German list, against #37,097 for "Mähne". 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 "Mähne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mahnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #849,466 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mähne" and "mahnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mähne vs Möhre". 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 #849,466 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