MauervsMautWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,057
“Mauer” frequency rank
#8,753
“Maut” frequency rank
11810
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mauer Maut
Definition Wand eines Gebäudes aus Stein, Beton oder auch Lehm Zoll

Where the eye mixes Mauer and Maut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Mauer
4 ch
Maut

Why the eye confuses Mauer with Maut

A purely visual mix-up. Mauer ([ˈmaʊ̯ɐ]) and Maut ([maʊ̯t]) 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 11810, 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]. Maut is at rank #8,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊ̯t].

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 11810, this pair ranks #1,967,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mauer vs Maut

Shared letters: amu. Private to "Mauer": er. Private to "Maut": t.

"Mauer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "Maut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maueramuer · maeur · mauerr · maure · mmauer · muaer
  • Mautamut · matu · mautt · mmaut · muat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mauer" and "Maut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] versus [maʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mauer" or "Maut"?
"Mauer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,057 in our German list, against #8,753 for "Maut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mauer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Maut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,967,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mauer" and "Maut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs Maut". 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 #1,967,777 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