März vs may, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#621
“März” frequency rank: #5,282
“may” frequency rank: 5903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	März	may
Definition	der dritte Monat im Jahr	fünfter Monat im Kalenderjahr; Mai

Where the eye mixes März and may

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch

März

3 ch

may

Why the eye confuses März with may

A purely visual mix-up. März ([mɛʁt͡s]) and may ([mɑj]) 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 5903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

März is recorded at frequency rank #621, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛʁt͡s]. may is at rank #5,282, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɑj].

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 5903, this pair ranks #1,993,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of März vs may

Shared letters: m. Private to "März": rzä. Private to "may": ay.

"März" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "may" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "März" for "may" ever safe?

No. They are said differently ([mɛʁt͡s] versus [mɑj]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary German text, does "März" or "may" show up more?

"März" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #621 in our German list, against #5,282 for "may". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "März" and "may" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "März" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "may" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,993,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"März" and "may" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs may". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,993,352 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.