mailenvsMattenTell them apart

Quick tell: mailen is a verb, Matten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mailen” is a verb and “Matten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,065
“mailen” frequency rank
#24,829
“Matten” frequency rank
73894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mailen Matten
Definition eine E-Mail versenden, schicken Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Matta

Where the eye mixes mailen and Matten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mailen (CVVCVC) and Matten (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
mailen
6 ch
Matten

Why the eye confuses mailen with Matten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mailen is [ˈmɛɪ̯lən] while Matten is [ˈmatn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mailen is recorded at frequency rank #49,065, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛɪ̯lən]. Matten is at rank #24,829, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmatn̩].

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 73894, this pair ranks #348,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mailen vs Matten

Shared letters: aemn. Private to "mailen": il. Private to "Matten": t.

"mailen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Matten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mailen ← amilen · maieln · mailenn · maillen · mailne · malien · mialen · mmailen
  • Matten ← amtten · maten · matetn · mattenn · mattne · mmatten · mtaten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mailen" and "Matten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mailen" is a verb and "Matten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mailen" vs "Matten" - which ranks higher?
"Matten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,829 in our German list, against #49,065 for "mailen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mailen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Matten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #348,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mailen" and "Matten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen 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 #348,094 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