MayervsmaysConfusable pair

Quick tell: Mayer is a name, mays is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Mayer” is a name and “mays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,563
“Mayer” frequency rank
#44,064
“mays” frequency rank
50627
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mayer mays
Definition deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname mit häufigem Vorkommen das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays)

Letter map: Mayer vs mays

Shared letters muted; letters that set Mayer and mays apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Mayer runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against mays's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Mayer
4 ch
mays

Grammar separator: Mayer vs mays

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Mayer is aname and maysanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mayer is recorded at frequency rank #6,563, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯ɐ]. 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 50627, this pair ranks #1,166,547 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mayer vs mays

Shared letters: amy. Private to "Mayer": er. Private to "mays": s.

"Mayer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mayer ← amyer · maeyr · mayerr · mayre · mayyer · mmayer · myaer
  • mays ← amys · masy · mayss · mayys · mmays · myas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mayer" for "mays" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mayer" is a name and "mays" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Mayer" vs "mays" - which ranks higher?
"Mayer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,563 in our German list, against #44,064 for "mays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "Mayer" and "mays". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mayer" 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 #1,166,547 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mayer" 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 #1,166,547 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