MauservsmouseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,071
“Mauser” frequency rank
#31,186
“mouse” frequency rank
80257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mauser mouse
Definition das Wechseln des Gefieders beziehungsweise der Federn bei Vögeln Nagetier (Plural 1); Maus

Where the eye mixes Mauser and mouse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Mauser
5 ch
mouse

Visual trap between Mauser and mouse

A purely visual mix-up. Mauser ([ˈmaʊ̯zɐ]) and mouse ([maʊs]) 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 80257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mauser is recorded at frequency rank #49,071, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʊ̯zɐ]. mouse is at rank #31,186, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊs].

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 80257, this pair ranks #199,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Mauser vs mouse

Shared letters: emsu. Private to "Mauser": ar. Private to "mouse": o.

"Mauser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "mouse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mauseramuser · masuer · mauesr · mauserr · mausre · mausser · mmauser · muaser
  • mousemmouse · mosue · moues · mousse · muose · omuse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mauser" and "mouse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʊ̯zɐ] versus [maʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Mauser" or "mouse" show up more?
"mouse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,186 in our German list, against #49,071 for "Mauser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mauser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mouse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #199,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mauser" and "mouse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen 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 #199,357 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