maltvsmarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,197
“malt” frequency rank
#10,521
“mar” frequency rank
23718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malt mar
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs malen etwas stören, beeinträchtigen, beschädigen, verderben, verunstalten

Where the eye mixes malt and mar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
malt
3 ch
mar

Visual trap between malt and mar

A purely visual mix-up. malt ([maːlt]) and mar ([mɑːʳ]) 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 23718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malt is recorded at frequency rank #13,197, classified as averb, pronounced [maːlt]. mar is at rank #10,521, tagged as averb, pronounced [mɑːʳ].

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 23718, this pair ranks #1,857,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of malt vs mar

Shared letters: am. Private to "malt": lt. Private to "mar": r.

"malt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maltamlt · mallt · maltt · matl · mlat · mmalt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "malt" and "mar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([maːlt] versus [mɑːʳ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "malt" vs "mar" - which ranks higher?
"mar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,521 in our German list, against #13,197 for "malt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "malt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,857,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malt" and "mar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs malt". 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 #1,857,537 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