Which to use
“may” and “mays” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,282
- “may” frequency rank
- #44,064
- “mays” frequency rank
- 49346
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | may | mays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fünfter Monat im Kalenderjahr; Mai | das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays) |
Letter map: may vs mays
Shared letters muted; letters that set may and mays apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Pair insight - may / mays
may and mays are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “may” sits inside “mays”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
may is recorded at frequency rank #5,282, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɑj]. mays is at rank #44,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].
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 49346, this pair ranks #1,214,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of may vs mays
Shared letters: amy. Private to "may": -. Private to "mays": s.
"may" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mays ← amys · masy · mayss · mayys · mmays · myas
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "may" and "mays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "may" or "mays"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "may" and "mays". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "may" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,214,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "may" and "mays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mays vs puzzles". 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 #1,214,954 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.