MaryvsMausConfusable pair

Quick tell: Mary is a name, Maus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Mary” is a name and “Maus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,536
“Mary” frequency rank
#4,634
“Maus” frequency rank
9170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mary Maus
Definition weiblicher Vorname kleines graues oder braunes Säugetier mit überwiegend langem Schwanz, rattenähnlich, in der Zuchtform auch weiß oder schwarz

Letter map: Mary vs Maus

Shared letters muted; letters that set Mary and Maus apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Mary
4 ch
Maus

Grammar separator: Mary vs Maus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Mary is aname and Mausanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mary is recorded at frequency rank #4,536, classified as aname, pronounced […]. 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 9170, this pair ranks #1,981,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mary vs Maus

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mary": ry. Private to "Maus": su.

"Mary" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Maus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maryamry · marry · maryy · mmary · mray
  • Mausamus · masu · mauss · mmaus · muas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mary" and "Maus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mary" is a name and "Maus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Mary" or "Maus" show up more?
"Mary" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,536 in our German list, against #4,634 for "Maus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "Mary" and "Maus". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mary" 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 #1,981,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mary" and "Maus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mary vs puzzles". 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 #1,981,171 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