mauvsmaysWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mau is a adjective, mays is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mau” is an adjective and “mays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,357
“mau” frequency rank
#44,064
“mays” frequency rank
61421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mau mays
Definition sich nicht ganz wohl fühlend das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays)

Letter map: mau vs mays

Shared letters muted; letters that set mau and mays apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
mau
4 ch
mays

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mau is anadjective and maysanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mau is recorded at frequency rank #17,357, classified as anadj, pronounced [maʊ̯]. 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 61421, this pair ranks #750,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mau vs mays

Shared letters: am. Private to "mau": u. Private to "mays": sy.

"mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maysamys · masy · mayss · mayys · mmays · myas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mau" and "mays" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mau" is an adjective and "mays" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mau" or "mays"?
"mau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,357 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mau" 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 #750,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mau" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list