MärzvsMatzeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#621
“März” frequency rank
#48,323
“Matze” frequency rank
48944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature März Matze
Definition der dritte Monat im Jahr ungesäuertes Fladenbrot, welches während der Passahzeit gegessen wird

Where the eye mixes März and Matze

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

4 ch
März
5 ch
Matze

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. März ([mɛʁt͡s]) and Matze ([ˈmat͡sə]) 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 48944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

März is recorded at frequency rank #621, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛʁt͡s]. Matze is at rank #48,323, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmat͡sə].

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 48944, this pair ranks #1,229,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of März vs Matze

Shared letters: mz. Private to "März": . Private to "Matze": aet.

"März" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Matze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Matzeamtze · matez · mattze · matzze · mazte · mmatze · mtaze

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "März" and "Matze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mɛʁt͡s] versus [ˈmat͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "März" or "Matze"?
"März" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #621 in our German list, against #48,323 for "Matze". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "März" and "Matze". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "März" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Matze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,229,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "März" and "Matze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs Mette". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list