marivsmayoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,234
“mari” frequency rank
#21,352
“mayo” frequency rank
50586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mari mayo
Definition Ehemann, Gatte, Gemahl, Gespons fünfter Monat des Jahres im gregorianischen Kalender; Mai

Where the eye mixes mari and mayo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mari (CVCV) and mayo (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
mari
4 ch
mayo

Look-alike desk: mari vs mayo

A purely visual mix-up. mari ([ma.ʁi]) and mayo ([ˈmaʝo]) 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 50586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mari is recorded at frequency rank #29,234, classified as anoun, pronounced [ma.ʁi]. mayo is at rank #21,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʝo].

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 50586, this pair ranks #1,168,032 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mari vs mayo

Shared letters: am. Private to "mari": ir. Private to "mayo": oy.

"mari" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mayo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mariamri · mair · marri · mmari · mrai
  • mayoamyo · maoy · mayyo · mmayo · myao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mari" and "mayo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ma.ʁi] versus [ˈmaʝo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mari" or "mayo" show up more?
"mayo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,352 in our German list, against #29,234 for "mari". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mari" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mayo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,168,032 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mari" and "mayo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mari 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 #1,168,032 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