MannvsMannsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#173
“Mann” frequency rank
#25,656
“Manns” frequency rank
25829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mann Manns
Definition erwachsener, männlicher Mensch Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Mann

Where the eye mixes Mann and Manns

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Mann
5 ch
Manns

Why the eye confuses Mann with Manns

A purely visual mix-up. Mann ([man]) and Manns ([mans]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Mann” sits inside “Manns”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mann is recorded at frequency rank #173, classified as anoun, pronounced [man]. Manns is at rank #25,656, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mans].

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 25829, this pair ranks #1,827,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mann vs Manns

Shared letters: amn. Private to "Mann": -. Private to "Manns": s.

"Mann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Manns" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mannamnn · mmann · mnan
  • Mannsamnns · mannss · mansn · mmanns · mnans

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mann" for "Manns" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([man] versus [mans]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mann" vs "Manns" - which ranks higher?
"Mann" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #173 in our German list, against #25,656 for "Manns". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mann" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Manns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,827,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mann" and "Manns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs Manns". 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 #1,827,353 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