MayavsmesaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,126
“Maya” frequency rank
#45,455
“mesa” frequency rank
57581
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maya mesa
Definition Angehöriger eines indianischen Volkes mit hoch entwickelter Kultur in Mittelamerika Genitiv Singular des Substantivs meso

Where the eye mixes Maya and mesa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Maya
4 ch
mesa

Look-alike desk: Maya vs mesa

A purely visual mix-up. Maya ([ˈmaːja]) and mesa ([ˈmɛ̂ːsa]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maya is recorded at frequency rank #12,126, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːja]. mesa is at rank #45,455, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛ̂ːsa].

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 57581, this pair ranks #895,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Maya vs mesa

Shared letters: am. Private to "Maya": y. Private to "mesa": es.

"Maya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "mesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mayaamya · maay · mayya · mmaya · myaa
  • mesaemsa · meas · messa · mmesa · msea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Maya" for "mesa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːja] versus [ˈmɛ̂ːsa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Maya" or "mesa"?
"Maya" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,126 in our German list, against #45,455 for "mesa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maya" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #895,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maya" and "mesa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mesa 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 #895,947 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