masvsmeansTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,981
“mas” frequency rank
#32,163
“means” frequency rank
50144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mas means
Definition der Bauernhof, das Bauernhaus Plural des Substantivs mean

Where the eye mixes mas and means

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

3 ch
mas
5 ch
means

Why the eye confuses mas with means

A purely visual mix-up. mas ([mas]) and means ([mi(ː)nz]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mas is recorded at frequency rank #17,981, classified as anoun, pronounced [mas]. means is at rank #32,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mi(ː)nz].

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 50144, this pair ranks #1,184,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mas vs means

Shared letters: ams. Private to "mas": -. Private to "means": en.

"mas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "means" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meansemans · maens · meanns · meanss · measn · mmeans

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mas" and "means" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mas] versus [mi(ː)nz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mas" vs "means" - which ranks higher?
"mas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,981 in our German list, against #32,163 for "means". 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 "mas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "means" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,184,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mas" and "means" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs means". 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 #1,184,969 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