MeistervsMeterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,207
“Meister” frequency rank
#753
“Meter” frequency rank
1960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Meister Meter
Definition gewerblich-technische Meister seines Fachs, der seinerseits einen angehenden Gesellen oder Facharbeiter ausbilden darf SI-Basiseinheit für die Länge; eine Strecke, die das Licht im Vakuum in 1/299.792.458 Sekunden zurücklegt

Where the eye mixes Meister and Meter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Meister
5 ch
Meter

Visual trap between Meister and Meter

A purely visual mix-up. Meister ([ˈmaɪ̯stɐ]) and Meter ([ˈmeːtɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Meister is recorded at frequency rank #1,207, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯stɐ]. Meter is at rank #753, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeːtɐ].

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 1960, this pair ranks #2,003,380 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Meister vs Meter

Shared letters: emrt. Private to "Meister": is. Private to "Meter": -.

"Meister" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "Meter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Meisteremister · meisetr · meisster · meisterr · meistre · meistter · meitser · mesiter
  • Meteremter · meetr · meterr · metre · metter · mmeter · mteer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Meister" for "Meter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɪ̯stɐ] versus [ˈmeːtɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Meister" vs "Meter" - which ranks higher?
"Meter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #753 in our German list, against #1,207 for "Meister". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Meister" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Meter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,003,380 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Meister" and "Meter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Memel vs Meter". 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 #2,003,380 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