Which to use
“mala” is an adjective and “mari” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,440
- “mala” frequency rank
- #29,234
- “mari” frequency rank
- 74674
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mala | mari |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | verkehrt, umgekehrt, gegenteilig, entgegengesetzt | Ehemann, Gatte, Gemahl, Gespons |
Letter map: mala vs mari
Shared letters muted; letters that set mala and mari apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. mala and mari follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Part-of-speech tell for mala / mari
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mala is anadjective and marianoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mala is recorded at frequency rank #45,440, classified as anadj. mari is at rank #29,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ma.ʁi].
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 74674, this pair ranks #327,252 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mala vs mari
Shared letters: am. Private to "mala": l. Private to "mari": ir.
"mala" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mari" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mala" for "mari" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mala" or "mari"?
Useful next steps
Pair "mala" vs "mari" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "mala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mari" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,252 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mala" and "mari" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mala 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 #327,252 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.