MamavsmazeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,778
“Mama” frequency rank
#44,065
“maze” frequency rank
45843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mama maze
Definition Kindersprache, Familiensprache: der weibliche Elternteil Irrgarten oder ein Gewirr wie ein Irrgarten

Where the eye mixes Mama and maze

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

4 ch
Mama
4 ch
maze

Look-alike desk: Mama vs maze

A purely visual mix-up. Mama ([ˈmama]) and maze ([meɪz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mama is recorded at frequency rank #1,778, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmama]. maze is at rank #44,065, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meɪz].

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 45843, this pair ranks #1,339,358 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mama vs maze

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mama": -. Private to "maze": ez.

"Mama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "maze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mamaamma · maam · mmaa · mmama
  • mazeamze · maez · mazze · mmaze · mzae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mama" for "maze" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmama] versus [meɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mama" vs "maze" - which ranks higher?
"Mama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,778 in our German list, against #44,065 for "maze". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,339,358 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mama" and "maze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs maze". 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 #1,339,358 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