manivsMaraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,519
“mani” frequency rank
#18,981
“Mara” frequency rank
58500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mani Mara
Definition Plural des Substantivs mano Nagetier, Art der Meerschweinchen, die in Südamerika beheimatet ist

Where the eye mixes mani and Mara

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mani and Mara follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
mani
4 ch
Mara

Look-alike desk: mani vs Mara

A purely visual mix-up. mani ([ˈmaːni]) and Mara ([ˈmaːʁa]) 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 58500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mani is recorded at frequency rank #39,519, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːni]. Mara is at rank #18,981, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːʁa].

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 58500, this pair ranks #860,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mani vs Mara

Shared letters: am. Private to "mani": in. Private to "Mara": r.

"mani" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Mara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mani ← manni · mmani · mnai
  • Mara ← amra · maar · marra · mmara · mraa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mani" for "Mara" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːni] versus [ˈmaːʁa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mani" or "Mara"?
"Mara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,981 in our German list, against #39,519 for "mani". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mani" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #860,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mani" and "Mara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs mani". 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 #860,346 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