maluvsmamWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: malu is a adverb, mam is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“malu” is an adverb and “mam” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,130
“malu” frequency rank
#35,901
“mam” frequency rank
82031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malu mam
Definition erst, erst einmal 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs měś

Letter map: malu vs mam

Shared letters muted; letters that set malu and mam apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
malu
3 ch
mam

Role in the sentence - malu and mam

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: malu is anadverb and mamaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malu is recorded at frequency rank #46,130, classified as anadv, pronounced […]. mam is at rank #35,901, tagged as averb, pronounced [mam].

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 82031, this pair ranks #164,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malu vs mam

Shared letters: am. Private to "malu": lu. Private to "mam": -.

"malu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maluamlu · mallu · mlau · mmalu

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "malu" and "mam" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "malu" is an adverb and "mam" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "malu" vs "mam" - which ranks higher?
"mam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,901 in our German list, against #46,130 for "malu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "malu" and "mam". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "malu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #164,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malu" and "mam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malu 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 #164,647 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