MauervsmerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,057
“Mauer” frequency rank
#10,134
“mer” frequency rank
13191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mauer mer
Definition Wand eines Gebäudes aus Stein, Beton oder auch Lehm das Meer, die See

Where the eye mixes Mauer and mer

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

5 ch
Mauer
3 ch
mer

Look-alike desk: Mauer vs mer

A purely visual mix-up. Mauer ([ˈmaʊ̯ɐ]) and mer ([mεːʀ]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13191, 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]. mer is at rank #10,134, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mεːʀ].

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 13191, this pair ranks #1,959,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mauer vs mer

Shared letters: emr. Private to "Mauer": au. Private to "mer": -.

"Mauer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maueramuer · maeur · mauerr · maure · mmauer · muaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mauer" for "mer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] versus [mεːʀ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mauer" or "mer"?
"Mauer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,057 in our German list, against #10,134 for "mer". 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 "mer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mauer" and "mer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mer vs mora". 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 #1,959,541 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