Mais vs mays, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#9,409
“Mais” frequency rank: #44,064
“mays” frequency rank: 53473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Mais	mays
Definition	Botanik:	das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Mais and mays apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

Mais

4 ch

mays

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Mais and mays are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - i in “Mais” becomes y in “mays”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mais is recorded at frequency rank #9,409, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɪ̯s]. mays is at rank #44,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 53473, this pair ranks #1,056,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mais vs mays

Shared letters: ams. Private to "Mais": i. Private to "mays": y.

"Mais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Mais ← amis · maiss · masi · mias · mmais
mays ← amys · masy · mayss · mayys · mmays · myas

Frequency comparison

Mais#9,409

mays#44,064

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mais" and "mays" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by a single letter - i in “Mais” becomes y in “mays”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "Mais" or "mays"?

"Mais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,409 in our German list, against #44,064 for "mays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Mais vs mays

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Mais” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable