MähnevsMüheWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Mähne” and “Mühe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,097
“Mähne” frequency rank
#2,352
“Mühe” frequency rank
39449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mähne Mühe
Definition Gesamtheit der langen Haare, die einigen Tieren, zum Beispiel Löwen oder Pferden, am Kopf wachsen körperliche oder geistige Anstrengung

Where the eye mixes Mähne and Mühe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Mähne
4 ch
Mühe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Mähne ([ˈmɛːnə]) and Mühe ([ˈmyːə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39449, 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]. Mühe is at rank #2,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmyːə].

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 39449, this pair ranks #1,536,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mähne vs Mühe

Shared letters: ehm. Private to "Mähne": . Private to "Mühe": ü.

"Mähne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Mühe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mähne" and "Mühe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛːnə] versus [ˈmyːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mähne" or "Mühe"?
"Mühe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,352 in our German list, against #37,097 for "Mähne". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list