MathevsmazeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,624
“Mathe” frequency rank
#44,065
“maze” frequency rank
49689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mathe maze
Definition (das Schulfach) Mathematik Irrgarten oder ein Gewirr wie ein Irrgarten

Where the eye mixes Mathe and maze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Mathe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against maze's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Mathe
4 ch
maze

Visual trap between Mathe and maze

A purely visual mix-up. Mathe ([ˈmatə]) and maze ([meɪz]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49689, 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]. maze is at rank #44,065, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meɪz].

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 49689, this pair ranks #1,201,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mathe vs maze

Shared letters: aem. Private to "Mathe": ht. Private to "maze": z.

"Mathe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "maze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mathe ← amthe · mahte · mateh · mathhe · matthe · mmathe · mtahe
  • maze ← amze · maez · mazze · mmaze · mzae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mathe" for "maze" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmatə] versus [meɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mathe" or "maze"?
"Mathe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,624 in our German list, against #44,065 for "maze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Mathe" and "maze" 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 "maze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,201,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mathe" and "maze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs maze". 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 #1,201,998 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