machtevsMascheTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#780
“machte” frequency rank
#16,778
“Masche” frequency rank
17558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature machte Masche
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs machen eine aus Garn, Faden, Draht oder Ähnlichem gefertigte Schlinge, die beim Stricken, Häkeln oder durch Verknüpfen entsteht

Where the eye mixes machte and Masche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. machte and Masche follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
machte
6 ch
Masche

Why the eye confuses machte with Masche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: machte is [ˈmaxtə] while Masche is [ˈmaʃə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

machte is recorded at frequency rank #780, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaxtə]. Masche is at rank #16,778, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʃə].

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 17558, this pair ranks #1,926,300 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of machte vs Masche

Shared letters: acehm. Private to "machte": t. Private to "Masche": s.

"machte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Masche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • machte ← amchte · macchte · machet · machhte · machtte · macthe · mahcte · mcahte
  • Masche ← amsche · macshe · mascche · masceh · maschhe · mashce · massche · mmasche

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "machte" and "Masche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "machte" is a verb and "Masche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "machte" vs "Masche" - which ranks higher?
"machte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #780 in our German list, against #16,778 for "Masche". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "machte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Masche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,926,300 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "machte" and "Masche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Masche vs muscle". 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 #1,926,300 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