MackevsMarkeConfusable pair

Which to use

“Macke” and “Marke” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,248
“Macke” frequency rank
#2,508
“Marke” frequency rank
36756
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Macke Marke
Definition sonderbare Eigenart eine dauerhafte Kennzeichnung oder Markierung

Where the eye mixes Macke and Marke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Macke
5 ch
Marke

Why the eye confuses Macke with Marke

A purely visual mix-up. Macke ([ˈmakə]) and Marke ([ˈmaʁkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “Macke” becomes r in “Marke”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Macke is recorded at frequency rank #34,248, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmakə]. Marke is at rank #2,508, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʁkə].

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 36756, this pair ranks #1,607,463 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Macke vs Marke

Shared letters: aekm. Private to "Macke": c. Private to "Marke": r.

"Macke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Marke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mackeamcke · maccke · macek · mackke · makce · mcake · mmacke
  • Markeamrke · makre · markke · marrke · mmarke · mrake

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Macke" for "Marke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmakə] versus [ˈmaʁkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Macke" vs "Marke" - which ranks higher?
"Marke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,508 in our German list, against #34,248 for "Macke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Macke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Marke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,607,463 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Macke" and "Marke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Macke 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 #1,607,463 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