matavsmaysTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,084
“mata” frequency rank
#44,064
“mays” frequency rank
84148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mata mays
Definition Plural des Substantivs mace das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays)

Letter map: mata vs mays

Shared letters muted; letters that set mata and mays apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. mata (CVCV) and mays (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
mata
4 ch
mays

Spelling & dictionary notes on mata vs mays

mata and mays are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mata is recorded at frequency rank #40,084, classified as anoun, pronounced [máːtáː]. mays is at rank #44,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 84148, this pair ranks #128,383 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mata vs mays

Shared letters: am. Private to "mata": t. Private to "mays": sy.

"mata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mata ← amta · maat · matta · mmata · mtaa
  • mays ← amys · masy · mayss · mayys · mmays · myas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mata" and "mays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mata" vs "mays" - which ranks higher?
"mata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,084 in our German list, against #44,064 for "mays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "mata" and "mays". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,383 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mata" and "mays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mays vs puzzles". 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 #128,383 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