machevsmichWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mache is a verb, mich is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mache” is a verb and “mich” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#934
“mache” frequency rank
#69
“mich” frequency rank
1003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mache mich
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs machen [1] Akkusativ Singular des Personalpronomens ich

Where the eye mixes mache and mich

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mache
4 ch
mich

Why the eye confuses mache with mich

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mache is [ˈmaxə] while mich is [mɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mache is recorded at frequency rank #934, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaxə]. mich is at rank #69, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [mɪç].

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 1003, this pair ranks #2,005,037 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mache vs mich

Shared letters: chm. Private to "mache": ae. Private to "mich": i.

"mache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • macheamche · macche · maceh · machhe · mahce · mcahe · mmache
  • michimch · mcih · micch · michh · mihc · mmich

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mache" for "mich" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mache" is a verb and "mich" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mache" or "mich" show up more?
"mich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #69 in our German list, against #934 for "mache". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mich" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,037 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mache" and "mich" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mache vs Matze". 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 #2,005,037 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