Mai vs Mt, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#586
“Mai” frequency rank: #8,757
“Mt” frequency rank: 9343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Mai	Mt
Definition	der fünfte Monat im Jahr	Matthäusevangelium

Where the eye mixes Mai and Mt

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

3 ch

Mai

2 ch

Why the eye confuses Mai with Mt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mai is [maɪ̯] while Mt is [ɛmˈteː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mai is recorded at frequency rank #586, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯]. Mt is at rank #8,757, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ɛmˈteː].

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 9343, this pair ranks #1,980,425 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mai vs Mt

Shared letters: m. Private to "Mai": ai. Private to "Mt": t.

"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "Mt" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"Mai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #586 in our German list, against #8,757 for "Mt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Mt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,980,425 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Mai" and "Mt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mme vs Mt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,980,425 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.