mamvsmmeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#35,901
“mam” frequency rank
#46,851
“mme” frequency rank
82752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mam mme
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs měś Mutter

Where the eye mixes mam and mme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mam (CVC) and mme (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
mam
3 ch
mme

Look-alike desk: mam vs mme

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mam is [mam] while mme is [m̩mɛ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mam is recorded at frequency rank #35,901, classified as averb, pronounced [mam]. mme is at rank #46,851, tagged as anoun, pronounced [m̩mɛ].

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 82752, this pair ranks #151,639 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mam vs mme

Shared letters: m. Private to "mam": a. Private to "mme": e.

"mam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mme" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mam" for "mme" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mam" is a verb and "mme" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mam" or "mme" show up more?
"mam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,901 in our German list, against #46,851 for "mme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,639 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mam" and "mme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Memel vs mme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #151,639 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