mahnenvsmaidenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#32,659
“mahnen” frequency rank
#42,670
“maiden” frequency rank
75329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mahnen maiden
Definition eindringlich zu einem bestimmten, als erforderlich erachteten Handeln und Benehmen auffordern, drängen die Maid, die Magd

Letter map: mahnen vs maiden

Shared letters muted; letters that set mahnen and maiden apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. mahnen (CVCCVC) and maiden (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
mahnen
6 ch
maiden

Part-of-speech tell for mahnen / maiden

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mahnen is averb and maidenanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mahnen is recorded at frequency rank #32,659, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaːnən]. maiden is at rank #42,670, tagged as anoun, 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 75329, this pair ranks #310,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mahnen vs maiden

Shared letters: aemn. Private to "mahnen": h. Private to "maiden": di.

"mahnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "maiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mahnen ← amhnen · mahenn · mahhnen · mahnenn · mahnne · mahnnen · manhen · mhanen
  • maiden ← amiden · madien · maidden · maidenn · maidne · maiedn · miaden · mmaiden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mahnen" for "maiden" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mahnen" is a verb and "maiden" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mahnen" vs "maiden" - which ranks higher?
"mahnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,659 in our German list, against #42,670 for "maiden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mahnen" and "maiden".

  • Full dictionary entry for "mahnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maiden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #310,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mahnen" and "maiden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maiden 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 #310,691 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