MachtvsmaltWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#134
“Macht” frequency rank
#13,197
“malt” frequency rank
13331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Macht malt
Definition Fähigkeit, auf andere Einfluss ausüben zu können, auch gegen deren Willen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs malen

Where the eye mixes Macht and malt

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

5 ch
Macht
4 ch
malt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Macht is [maxt] while malt is [maːlt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Macht is recorded at frequency rank #134, classified as anoun, pronounced [maxt]. malt is at rank #13,197, tagged as averb, pronounced [maːlt].

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 13331, this pair ranks #1,958,670 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Macht vs malt

Shared letters: amt. Private to "Macht": ch. Private to "malt": l.

"Macht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "malt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Machtamcht · maccht · machht · machtt · macth · mahct · mcaht · mmacht
  • maltamlt · mallt · maltt · matl · mlat · mmalt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Macht" and "malt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Macht" is a noun and "malt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Macht" or "malt"?
"Macht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #134 in our German list, against #13,197 for "malt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list