MaikevsMalteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,311
“Maike” frequency rank
#10,326
“Malte” frequency rank
45637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maike Malte
Definition weiblicher Vorname männlicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes Maike and Malte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Maike (CVVCV) and Malte (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Maike
5 ch
Malte

Visual trap between Maike and Malte

A purely visual mix-up. Maike ([ˈmaɪ̯kə]) and Malte ([ˈmaltə]) 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 45637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maike is recorded at frequency rank #35,311, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯kə]. Malte is at rank #10,326, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈmaltə].

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 45637, this pair ranks #1,346,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Maike vs Malte

Shared letters: aem. Private to "Maike": ik. Private to "Malte": lt.

"Maike" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Malte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maikeamike · maiek · maikke · makie · miake · mmaike
  • Malteamlte · malet · mallte · maltte · matle · mlate · mmalte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Maike" and "Malte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɪ̯kə] versus [ˈmaltə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Maike" vs "Malte" - which ranks higher?
"Malte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,326 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 "Maike" and "Malte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maike" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Malte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,346,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maike" and "Malte" 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 #1,346,244 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