masvsmotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,981
“mas” frequency rank
#42,693
“mot” frequency rank
60674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mas mot
Definition der Bauernhof, das Bauernhaus Wort

Where the eye mixes mas and mot

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

3 ch
mas
3 ch
mot

Visual trap between mas and mot

A purely visual mix-up. mas ([mas]) and mot ([mo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60674, 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]. mot is at rank #42,693, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mo].

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 60674, this pair ranks #778,163 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mas vs mot

Shared letters: m. Private to "mas": as. Private to "mot": ot.

"mas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mas" and "mot" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mas] versus [mo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mas" or "mot" show up more?
"mas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,981 in our German list, against #42,693 for "mot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #778,163 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mas" and "mot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mot". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #778,163 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