Which to use
“Mathe” is a noun and “mattes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,624
- “Mathe” frequency rank
- #38,895
- “mattes” frequency rank
- 44519
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mathe | mattes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (das Schulfach) Mathematik | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs matt |
Where the eye mixes Mathe and mattes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Mathe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against mattes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Mathe with mattes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mathe is [ˈmatə] while mattes is [ˈmatəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Mathe is recorded at frequency rank #5,624, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmatə]. mattes is at rank #38,895, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmatəs].
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 44519, this pair ranks #1,383,567 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Mathe vs mattes
Shared letters: aemt. Private to "Mathe": h. Private to "mattes": s.
"Mathe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mattes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Mathe" and "mattes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Mathe" or "mattes"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Mathe" and "mattes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Mathe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mattes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,383,567 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Mathe" and "mattes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mattes vs Matze". 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 #1,383,567 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.