MalereivsMalernWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,869
“Malerei” frequency rank
#40,689
“Malern” frequency rank
46558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Malerei Malern
Definition Werk eines Malers Dativ Plural des Substantivs Maler

Where the eye mixes Malerei and Malern

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

7 ch
Malerei
6 ch
Malern

Visual trap between Malerei and Malern

A purely visual mix-up. Malerei ([ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯]) and Malern ([ˈmaːlɐn]) 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 46558, 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]. Malern is at rank #40,689, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːlɐn].

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 46558, this pair ranks #1,314,948 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Malerei vs Malern

Shared letters: aelmr. Private to "Malerei": i. Private to "Malern": n.

"Malerei" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "Malern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Malereiamlerei · maelrei · maleeri · malerie · malerrei · mallerei · malreei · mlaerei
  • Malernamlern · maelrn · malenr · malernn · malerrn · mallern · malren · mlaern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Malerei" for "Malern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˌmaːləˈʁaɪ̯] versus [ˈmaːlɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Malerei" or "Malern"?
"Malerei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,869 in our German list, against #40,689 for "Malern". 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 "Malerei" and "Malern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Malerei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Malern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,314,948 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Malerei" and "Malern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen 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 #1,314,948 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