MaisvsMopsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,409
“Mais” frequency rank
#40,713
“Mops” frequency rank
50122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mais Mops
Definition Botanik: Hunderasse mit kurzen Beinen und gedrungenem Körper

Where the eye mixes Mais and Mops

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Mais
4 ch
Mops

Why the eye confuses Mais with Mops

A purely visual mix-up. Mais ([maɪ̯s]) and Mops ([mɔps]) 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 50122, 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]. Mops is at rank #40,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɔps].

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 50122, this pair ranks #1,185,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mais vs Mops

Shared letters: ms. Private to "Mais": ai. Private to "Mops": op.

"Mais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Mops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maisamis · maiss · masi · mias · mmais
  • Mopsmmops · mopps · mopss · mosp · mpos · omps

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mais" for "Mops" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maɪ̯s] versus [mɔps]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mais" vs "Mops" - which ranks higher?
"Mais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,409 in our German list, against #40,713 for "Mops". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,185,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mais" and "Mops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mops vs mora". 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 #1,185,813 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