MaravsmasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,981
“Mara” frequency rank
#17,981
“mas” frequency rank
36962
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mara mas
Definition Nagetier, Art der Meerschweinchen, die in Südamerika beheimatet ist der Bauernhof, das Bauernhaus

Where the eye mixes Mara and mas

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

4 ch
Mara
3 ch
mas

Why the eye confuses Mara with mas

A purely visual mix-up. Mara ([ˈmaːʁa]) and mas ([mas]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36962, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mara is recorded at frequency rank #18,981, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːʁa]. mas is at rank #17,981, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mas].

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 36962, this pair ranks #1,602,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mara vs mas

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mara": r. Private to "mas": s.

"Mara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maraamra · maar · marra · mmara · mraa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mara" for "mas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːʁa] versus [mas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mara" vs "mas" - which ranks higher?
"mas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,981 in our German list, against #18,981 for "Mara". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,602,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mara" and "mas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mara vs mora". 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 #1,602,270 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