mahntvsmahnteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,687
“mahnt” frequency rank
#33,177
“mahnte” frequency rank
54864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mahnt mahnte
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mahnen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs mahnen

Where the eye mixes mahnt and mahnte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mahnt runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against mahnte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mahnt
6 ch
mahnte

Why the eye confuses mahnt with mahnte

A purely visual mix-up. mahnt ([maːnt]) and mahnte ([ˈmaːntə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “mahnt” sits inside “mahnte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mahnt is recorded at frequency rank #21,687, classified as averb, pronounced [maːnt]. mahnte is at rank #33,177, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmaːntə].

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 54864, this pair ranks #1,002,009 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mahnt vs mahnte

Shared letters: ahmnt. Private to "mahnt": -. Private to "mahnte": e.

"mahnt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "mahnte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mahnt ← amhnt · mahhnt · mahnnt · mahntt · mahtn · manht · mhant · mmahnt
  • mahnte ← amhnte · mahhnte · mahnet · mahnnte · mahntte · mahtne · manhte · mhante

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mahnt" and "mahnte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([maːnt] versus [ˈmaːntə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mahnt" or "mahnte" show up more?
"mahnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,687 in our German list, against #33,177 for "mahnte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mahnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mahnte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,002,009 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mahnt" and "mahnte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magnete vs mahnte". 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 #1,002,009 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