makesvsMausTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,890
“makes” frequency rank
#4,634
“Maus” frequency rank
43524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature makes Maus
Definition Plural des Substantivs make kleines graues oder braunes Säugetier mit überwiegend langem Schwanz, rattenähnlich, in der Zuchtform auch weiß oder schwarz

Where the eye mixes makes and Maus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
makes
4 ch
Maus

Why the eye confuses makes with Maus

A purely visual mix-up. makes ([meɪks]) and Maus ([maʊ̯s]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

makes is recorded at frequency rank #38,890, classified as anoun, pronounced [meɪks]. Maus is at rank #4,634, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊ̯s].

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 43524, this pair ranks #1,415,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of makes vs Maus

Shared letters: ams. Private to "makes": ek. Private to "Maus": u.

"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Maus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makesamkes · maeks · makess · makkes · mkaes · mmakes
  • Mausamus · masu · mauss · mmaus · muas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "makes" for "Maus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([meɪks] versus [maʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "makes" vs "Maus" - which ranks higher?
"Maus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,634 in our German list, against #38,890 for "makes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "makes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Maus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,415,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "makes" and "Maus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs Mals". 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 #1,415,340 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