MautvsMuteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,753
“Maut” frequency rank
#40,098
“Mute” frequency rank
48851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maut Mute
Definition Zoll Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Mut

Where the eye mixes Maut and Mute

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

4 ch
Maut
4 ch
Mute

Why the eye confuses Maut with Mute

A purely visual mix-up. Maut ([maʊ̯t]) and Mute ([ˈmuːtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maut is recorded at frequency rank #8,753, classified as anoun, pronounced [maʊ̯t]. Mute is at rank #40,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmuːtə].

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 48851, this pair ranks #1,233,222 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Maut vs Mute

Shared letters: mtu. Private to "Maut": a. Private to "Mute": e.

"Maut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Mute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mautamut · matu · mautt · mmaut · muat
  • Mutemmute · mtue · muet · umte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Maut" for "Mute" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maʊ̯t] versus [ˈmuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Maut" vs "Mute" - which ranks higher?
"Maut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,753 in our German list, against #40,098 for "Mute". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Maut" and "Mute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,233,222 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maut" and "Mute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs Mute". 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 #1,233,222 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