machenvsmancherWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#104
“machen” frequency rank
#5,102
“mancher” frequency rank
5206
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature machen mancher
Definition in einen bestimmten Zustand versetzen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens manch

Where the eye mixes machen and mancher

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

6 ch
machen
7 ch
mancher

Why the eye confuses machen with mancher

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: machen is [ˈmaxn̩] while mancher is [ˈmançɐ]. 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 5206, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

machen is recorded at frequency rank #104, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaxn̩]. mancher is at rank #5,102, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈmançɐ].

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 5206, this pair ranks #1,995,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of machen vs mancher

Shared letters: acehmn. Private to "machen": -. Private to "mancher": r.

"machen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mancher" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • machenamchen · macchen · macehn · machenn · machhen · machne · mahcen · mcahen
  • mancheramncher · macnher · manccher · mancehr · mancherr · manchher · manchre · manhcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "machen" and "mancher" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "machen" is a verb and "mancher" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "machen" or "mancher"?
"machen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #104 in our German list, against #5,102 for "mancher". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "machen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mancher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "machen" and "mancher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machen vs mailen". 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 #1,995,484 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