MaidvsmazeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,310
“Maid” frequency rank
#44,065
“maze” frequency rank
79375
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maid maze
Definition junge, unverheiratete Frau Irrgarten oder ein Gewirr wie ein Irrgarten

Where the eye mixes Maid and maze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Maid (CVVC) and maze (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Maid
4 ch
maze

Look-alike desk: Maid vs maze

A purely visual mix-up. Maid ([maɪ̯t]) and maze ([meɪz]) 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 79375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maid is recorded at frequency rank #35,310, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯t]. maze is at rank #44,065, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meɪz].

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 79375, this pair ranks #217,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Maid vs maze

Shared letters: am. Private to "Maid": di. Private to "maze": ez.

"Maid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "maze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maid ← amid · madi · maidd · miad · mmaid
  • maze ← amze · maez · mazze · mmaze · mzae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Maid" and "maze" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([maɪ̯t] versus [meɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Maid" or "maze"?
"Maid" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,310 in our German list, against #44,065 for "maze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #217,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maid" and "maze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs maze". 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 #217,778 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