marevsmmeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,825
“mare” frequency rank
#46,851
“mme” frequency rank
71676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mare mme
Definition Stute Mutter

Where the eye mixes mare and mme

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

4 ch
mare
3 ch
mme

Why the eye confuses mare with mme

A purely visual mix-up. mare ([mɛə]) and mme ([m̩mɛ]) 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 71676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mare is recorded at frequency rank #24,825, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛə]. mme is at rank #46,851, tagged as anoun, pronounced [m̩mɛ].

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 71676, this pair ranks #410,079 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mare vs mme

Shared letters: em. Private to "mare": ar. Private to "mme": -.

"mare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mme" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maremaer · marre · mmare · mrae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mare" and "mme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mɛə] versus [m̩mɛ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mare" or "mme"?
"mare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,825 in our German list, against #46,851 for "mme". 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 "mare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #410,079 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mare" and "mme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Memel vs mme". 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 #410,079 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