MalervsMalerinTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,811
“Maler” frequency rank
#27,408
“Malerin” frequency rank
32219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maler Malerin
Definition Künstler, der Bilder malt Künstlerin, die Bilder malt

Where the eye mixes Maler and Malerin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Maler
7 ch
Malerin

Look-alike desk: Maler vs Malerin

A purely visual mix-up. Maler ([ˈmaːlɐ]) and Malerin ([ˈmaːləʁɪn]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Maler” sits inside “Malerin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maler is recorded at frequency rank #4,811, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːlɐ]. Malerin is at rank #27,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːləʁɪn].

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 32219, this pair ranks #1,712,203 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Maler vs Malerin

Shared letters: aelmr. Private to "Maler": -. Private to "Malerin": in.

"Maler" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Malerin" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maleramler · maelr · malerr · maller · malre · mlaer · mmaler
  • Malerinamlerin · maelrin · maleirn · malerinn · malerni · malerrin · mallerin · malrein

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Maler" and "Malerin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːlɐ] versus [ˈmaːləʁɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Maler" or "Malerin" show up more?
"Maler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,811 in our German list, against #27,408 for "Malerin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Malerin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,712,203 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maler" and "Malerin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Malerin vs Malern". 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 #1,712,203 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