mahnenvsMännerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,659
“mahnen” frequency rank
#435
“Männer” frequency rank
33094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mahnen Männer
Definition eindringlich zu einem bestimmten, als erforderlich erachteten Handeln und Benehmen auffordern, drängen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Mann

Where the eye mixes mahnen and Männer

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

6 ch
mahnen
6 ch
Männer

Look-alike desk: mahnen vs Männer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mahnen is [ˈmaːnən] while Männer is [ˈmɛnɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33094, 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]. Männer is at rank #435, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛnɐ].

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 33094, this pair ranks #1,693,404 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mahnen vs Männer

Shared letters: emn. Private to "mahnen": ah. Private to "Männer": .

"mahnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Männer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mahnenamhnen · mahenn · mahhnen · mahnenn · mahnne · mahnnen · manhen · mhanen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mahnen" and "Männer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mahnen" is a verb and "Männer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mahnen" or "Männer"?
"Männer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #435 in our German list, against #32,659 for "mahnen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "mahnen" and "Männer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mahnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Männer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,693,404 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mahnen" and "Männer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mahnen vs mailen". 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 #1,693,404 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