Mais

name

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

"mais" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Mais” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #30,490) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#30,490
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mais · Mais · English

Mais · rank #30,490 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,490
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH maduro

Nearest frequency peer: maduro (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “Mais”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “Mais” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

Mais vs MS
25% similar
Mais vs mi
25% similar
Mais vs may
25% similar

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

Key facts for Mais
PropertyValue
HeadwordMais
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters4
Frequency rank#30,490
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “Mais”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Maislands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “maduro” (#30,489), “Madeira” (#30,488), “Marcy” (#30,493). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “Mais” is #30,490. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Mais is neighbouring look-alikes ("MS", "mi", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun. Frequency #30,490 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Gloss: "A surname.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for Mais, with forms such as "maiss", "masi", and "mias". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MS", "mi", "may", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: * As an English surname (Durham), variant of Mayes. * As a German surname, from the obsolete Middle High German meiz (“cleared land”). The correct English form is Mais, spelled M-A-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A surname.

Etymology

* As an English surname (Durham), variant of Mayes. * As a German surname, from the obsolete Middle High German meiz (“cleared land”).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • maiss
  • masi
  • mias
  • mmais

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Mais - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

maiss1masi2mias2mmais1
Edit distance from "Mais"

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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Mais"?
"Mais" is spelled M-A-I-S.
What does "Mais" mean?
As a proper noun, "Mais" means: A surname.
What words are commonly confused with "Mais"?
"Mais" is commonly confused with "MS", "mi", "may". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "Mais"?
* As an English surname (Durham), variant of Mayes. * As a German surname, from the obsolete Middle High German meiz (“cleared land”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

kaya#30,470JAMA#30,464Oreo#30,521ight#30,453

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list