MalereivsMalereienTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,869
“Malerei” frequency rank
#33,178
“Malereien” frequency rank
39047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Malerei Malereien
Definition Werk eines Malers Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Malerei

Where the eye mixes Malerei and Malereien

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Malerei runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against Malereien's 9 (CVCVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Malerei
9 ch
Malereien

Look-alike desk: Malerei vs Malereien

A purely visual mix-up. Malerei ([ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯]) and Malereien ([ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯ən]) 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) - “Malerei” sits inside “Malereien”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Malerei is recorded at frequency rank #5,869, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯]. Malereien is at rank #33,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯ən].

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 39047, this pair ranks #1,547,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Malerei vs Malereien

Shared letters: aeilmr. Private to "Malerei": -. Private to "Malereien": n.

"Malerei" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "Malereien" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Malerei ← amlerei · maelrei · maleeri · malerie · malerrei · mallerei · malreei · mlaerei
  • Malereien ← amlereien · maelreien · maleerien · malereein · malereienn · malereine · malerieen · malerreien

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Malerei" and "Malereien" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯] versus [ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Malerei" or "Malereien"?
"Malerei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,869 in our German list, against #33,178 for "Malereien". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Malerei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Malereien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,547,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Malerei" and "Malereien" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Malereien vs Malerin". 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 #1,547,528 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