MachernvsmachtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Machern is a noun, machten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Machern” is a noun and “machten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,269
“Machern” frequency rank
#2,507
“machten” frequency rank
40776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Machern machten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Macher 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs machen

Where the eye mixes Machern and machten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Machern
7 ch
machten

Visual trap between Machern and machten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Machern is [ˈmaxɐn] while machten is [ˈmaxtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Machern is recorded at frequency rank #38,269, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaxɐn]. machten is at rank #2,507, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmaxtn̩].

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 40776, this pair ranks #1,498,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Machern vs machten

Shared letters: acehmn. Private to "Machern": r. Private to "machten": t.

"Machern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "machten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Machernamchern · macchern · macehrn · machenr · machernn · macherrn · machhern · machren
  • machtenamchten · macchten · machetn · machhten · machtenn · machtne · machtten · macthen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Machern" and "machten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Machern" is a noun and "machten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Machern" vs "machten" - which ranks higher?
"machten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,507 in our German list, against #38,269 for "Machern". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Machern" and "machten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Machern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "machten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,498,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Machern" and "machten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Machern vs Malern". 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 #1,498,622 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