Mai

[maɪ̯]

/[maɪ̯]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Mai” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #586) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#586
frequency rank, German
3,571
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - der fünfte Monat im Jahr

Corpus desk

Index DE-mai · Mai · German

Mai · rank #586 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #586
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,571
  • PHOTO-FINISH läuft

Nearest frequency peer: läuft (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „Mai“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „Mai“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Mai vs mm
0% similar
Mai vs me
0% similar
Mai vs my
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Mai
PropertyValue
HeadwordMai
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[maɪ̯]
Letters3
Frequency rank#586
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „Mai“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Mailiegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „läuft“ (#585), „Lage“ (#584), „September“ (#588). Unter 3,571 „M“-Lemmata liegt „Mai“ bei #586. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Mai is neighbouring look-alikes ("mm", "me", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [maɪ̯]. Frequency #586 among 3,571 “M” headwords. Gloss: "der fünfte Monat im Jahr".

No generated misspelling entries exist for Mai in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mm", "me", "my", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is Mai, spelled M-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    der fünfte Monat im Jahr

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Mai appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Der Mai folgt auf den April.
  2. „Die Autohersteller haben bereits Stellen gestrichen, und die privaten Banken sind mit Krediten knauserig geworden, nachdem die Ausfallrate im Mai einen Höchststand erreicht hat.“

Synonyms

FünfterWonnemonatWonnemond

Antonyms

JanuarJännerFebruarFeberMärzAprilJuniJuliAugustSeptemberOktoberNovemberDezember

This word in other languages

May(English)mayo(Español)mai(Français)maio(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Mai"?
"Mai" is spelled M-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is [maɪ̯].
What does "Mai" mean?
As a noun, "Mai" means: der fünfte Monat im Jahr
What words are commonly confused with "Mai"?
"Mai" is commonly confused with "mm", "me", "my". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Mai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Mai" is [maɪ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Mai" come from?
"Mai" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Mai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

AfD#594alt#595Tod#609ach#612

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list