marshvsMausWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,252
“marsh” frequency rank
#4,634
“Maus” frequency rank
38886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marsh Maus
Definition Sumpf, Sumpfland, Marsch, Marschland kleines graues oder braunes Säugetier mit überwiegend langem Schwanz, rattenähnlich, in der Zuchtform auch weiß oder schwarz

Where the eye mixes marsh and Maus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
marsh
4 ch
Maus

Why the eye confuses marsh with Maus

A purely visual mix-up. marsh ([mɑːʃ]) and Maus ([maʊ̯s]) 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 38886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marsh is recorded at frequency rank #34,252, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɑːʃ]. Maus is at rank #4,634, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊ̯s].

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 38886, this pair ranks #1,552,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marsh vs Maus

Shared letters: ams. Private to "marsh": hr. Private to "Maus": u.

"marsh" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Maus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marshamrsh · marhs · marrsh · marshh · marssh · masrh · mmarsh · mrash
  • Mausamus · masu · mauss · mmaus · muas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marsh" for "Maus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([mɑːʃ] versus [maʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "marsh" or "Maus"?
"Maus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,634 in our German list, against #34,252 for "marsh". 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 "marsh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Maus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,552,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marsh" and "Maus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs marsh". 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 #1,552,041 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