Mai vs Mal, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Mai” is a noun and “Mal” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#586
“Mai” frequency rank: #65
“Mal” frequency rank: 651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Mai	Mal
Definition	der fünfte Monat im Jahr	Buch Maleachi

Where the eye mixes Mai and Mal

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

Mai

3 ch

Mal

Look-alike desk: Mai vs Mal

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mai is [maɪ̯] while Mal is [maːl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “Mai” becomes l in “Mal”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mai is recorded at frequency rank #586, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯]. Mal is at rank #65, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [maːl].

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 651, this pair ranks #2,005,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mai vs Mal

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mai": i. Private to "Mal": l.

"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "Mal" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mai" and "Mal" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mai" is a noun and "Mal" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "Mai" or "Mal" show up more?

"Mal" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #65 in our German list, against #586 for "Mai". 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 "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Mal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #2,005,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Mai" and "Mal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mai vs Mals". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,005,558 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.