mannenvsMassenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#34,797
“mannen” frequency rank
#5,011
“Massen” frequency rank
39808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mannen Massen
Definition etwas von Mann zu Mann reichen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Masse

Where the eye mixes mannen and Massen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mannen and Massen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
mannen
6 ch
Massen

Visual trap between mannen and Massen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mannen is [ˈmanən] while Massen is [ˈmasn̩]. 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 39808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mannen is recorded at frequency rank #34,797, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmanən]. Massen is at rank #5,011, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmasn̩].

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 39808, this pair ranks #1,526,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mannen vs Massen

Shared letters: aemn. Private to "mannen": -. Private to "Massen": s.

"mannen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Massen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mannen ← amnnen · manen · manenn · mannenn · mannne · mmannen · mnanen
  • Massen ← amssen · masen · masesn · massenn · massne · maßen · mmassen · msasen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mannen" for "Massen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mannen" is a verb and "Massen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mannen" or "Massen" show up more?
"Massen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,011 in our German list, against #34,797 for "mannen". 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 "mannen" and "Massen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mannen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Massen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,526,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mannen" and "Massen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen vs mannen". 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 #1,526,311 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