MauervsMaurerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,057
“Mauer” frequency rank
#10,130
“Maurer” frequency rank
13187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mauer Maurer
Definition Wand eines Gebäudes aus Stein, Beton oder auch Lehm Bauhandwerker, der mauert und verputzt

Where the eye mixes Mauer and Maurer

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

5 ch
Mauer
6 ch
Maurer

Look-alike desk: Mauer vs Maurer

A purely visual mix-up. Mauer ([ˈmaʊ̯ɐ]) and Maurer ([ˈmaʊ̯ʁɐ]) 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 13187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mauer is recorded at frequency rank #3,057, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʊ̯ɐ]. Maurer is at rank #10,130, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʊ̯ʁɐ].

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 13187, this pair ranks #1,959,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mauer vs Maurer

Shared letters: aemru. Private to "Mauer": -. Private to "Maurer": -.

"Mauer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "Maurer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maueramuer · maeur · mauerr · maure · mmauer · muaer
  • Maureramurer · maruer · maurerr · maurre · maurrer · mmaurer · muarer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mauer" for "Maurer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] versus [ˈmaʊ̯ʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mauer" vs "Maurer" - which ranks higher?
"Mauer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,057 in our German list, against #10,130 for "Maurer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mauer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Maurer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mauer" and "Maurer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maurer vs Mauser". 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 #1,959,565 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