Which to use
“malt” is a verb and “Mast” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,197
- “malt” frequency rank
- #16,779
- “Mast” frequency rank
- 29976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malt | Mast |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs malen | senkrecht stehender pfeilerähnlicher Träger (allgemein) |
Where the eye mixes malt and Mast
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. malt and Mast follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses malt with Mast
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: malt is [maːlt] while Mast is [mast]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “malt” becomes s in “Mast”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29976, 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]. Mast is at rank #16,779, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mast].
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 29976, this pair ranks #1,756,701 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of malt vs Mast
Shared letters: amt. Private to "malt": l. Private to "Mast": s.
"malt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Mast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "malt" and "Mast" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "malt" or "Mast" show up more?
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 "malt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Mast" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,756,701 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malt" and "Mast" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs Mast". 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 #1,756,701 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.