Mai vs mme, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#586
“Mai” frequency rank: #46,851
“mme” frequency rank: 47437
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Mai	mme
Definition	der fünfte Monat im Jahr	Mutter

Where the eye mixes Mai and mme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

Mai

3 ch

mme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Mai ([maɪ̯]) and mme ([m̩mɛ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mai is recorded at frequency rank #586, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯]. mme is at rank #46,851, tagged as anoun, pronounced [m̩mɛ].

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 47437, this pair ranks #1,284,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mai vs mme

Shared letters: m. Private to "Mai": ai. Private to "mme": e.

"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mme" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mai" and "mme" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([maɪ̯] versus [m̩mɛ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "Mai" or "mme"?

"Mai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #586 in our German list, against #46,851 for "mme". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Mai" and "mme". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "mme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,284,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Mai" and "mme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Memel vs mme". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.