MaschevsMäuschenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,778
“Masche” frequency rank
#38,910
“Mäuschen” frequency rank
55688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Masche Mäuschen
Definition eine aus Garn, Faden, Draht oder Ähnlichem gefertigte Schlinge, die beim Stricken, Häkeln oder durch Verknüpfen entsteht kleine, niedliche Maus

Where the eye mixes Masche and Mäuschen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Masche
8 ch
Mäuschen

Look-alike desk: Masche vs Mäuschen

A purely visual mix-up. Masche ([ˈmaʃə]) and Mäuschen ([ˈmɔɪ̯sçən]) 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 55688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Masche is recorded at frequency rank #16,778, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʃə]. Mäuschen is at rank #38,910, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔɪ̯sçən].

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 55688, this pair ranks #969,782 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Masche vs Mäuschen

Shared letters: cehms. Private to "Masche": a. Private to "Mäuschen": nuä.

"Masche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Mäuschen" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mascheamsche · macshe · mascche · masceh · maschhe · mashce · massche · mmasche

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Masche" and "Mäuschen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʃə] versus [ˈmɔɪ̯sçən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Masche" or "Mäuschen" show up more?
"Masche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,778 in our German list, against #38,910 for "Mäuschen". 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 "Masche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mäuschen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #969,782 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Masche" and "Mäuschen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Märsche vs Mäuschen". 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 #969,782 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