Which to use
“malt” is a verb and “mays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,197
- “malt” frequency rank
- #44,064
- “mays” frequency rank
- 57261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malt | mays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs malen | das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays) |
Letter map: malt vs mays
Shared letters muted; letters that set malt and mays apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. malt (CVCC) and mays (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Part-of-speech tell for malt / mays
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: malt is averb and maysanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57261, 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]. mays is at rank #44,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].
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 57261, this pair ranks #908,212 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of malt vs mays
Shared letters: am. Private to "malt": lt. Private to "mays": sy.
"malt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "malt" for "mays" ever safe?
Frequency check: "malt" vs "mays" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "malt" and "mays".
- Full dictionary entry for "malt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #908,212 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malt" and "mays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mays vs puzzles". 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 #908,212 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.