We prove that every real algebraic integer $\alpha$ is expressible by a difference of two Mahler measures of integer polynomials. Moreover, these polynomials can be chosen in such a way that they both have the same degree as that of $\alpha$, say $d$, one of these two polynomials is irreducible and another has an irreducible factor of degree $d$, so that $\alpha=M(P)-bM(Q)$ with irreducible polynomials $P, Q\in \mathbb Z[X]$ of degree $d$ and a positive integer $b$. Finally, if $d \leqslant 3$, then one can take $b=1$.