maysvsmisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,064
“mays” frequency rank
#37,676
“mis” frequency rank
81740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mays mis
Definition das Artepitheton für den Mais (Zea mays) rotes, leicht formbares Metall, das sich gut als Stromleiter eignet; Kupfer

Letter map: mays vs mis

Shared letters muted; letters that set mays and mis apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
mays
3 ch
mis

Spelling & dictionary notes on mays vs mis

mays and mis 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mays is recorded at frequency rank #44,064, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. mis is at rank #37,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mis].

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 81740, this pair ranks #170,065 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mays vs mis

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mays": ay. Private to "mis": i.

"mays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maysamys · masy · mayss · mayys · mmays · myas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mays" for "mis" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "mays" or "mis" show up more?
"mis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,676 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mays" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #170,065 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mays" and "mis" 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 #170,065 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