MaiervsMaikeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,691
“Maier” frequency rank
#35,311
“Maike” frequency rank
46002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maier Maike
Definition deutscher Familienname weiblicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes Maier and Maike

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Maier
5 ch
Maike

Why the eye confuses Maier with Maike

A purely visual mix-up. Maier ([ˈmaɪ̯ɐ]) and Maike ([ˈmaɪ̯kə]) 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 46002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maier is recorded at frequency rank #10,691, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯ɐ]. Maike is at rank #35,311, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯kə].

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 46002, this pair ranks #1,333,839 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Maier vs Maike

Shared letters: aeim. Private to "Maier": r. Private to "Maike": k.

"Maier" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "Maike" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maieramier · maeir · maierr · miaer · mmaier
  • Maikeamike · maiek · maikke · makie · miake · mmaike

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Maier" and "Maike" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɪ̯ɐ] versus [ˈmaɪ̯kə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Maier" or "Maike" show up more?
"Maier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,691 in our German list, against #35,311 for "Maike". 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 "Maier" and "Maike" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Maike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,333,839 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maier" and "Maike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maike vs mailen". 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 #1,333,839 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