Which to use
“Macke” is a noun and “merke” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,248
- “Macke” frequency rank
- #6,565
- “merke” frequency rank
- 40813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Macke | merke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sonderbare Eigenart | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs merken |
Where the eye mixes Macke and merke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Macke with merke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Macke is [ˈmakə] while merke is [ˈmɛʁkə]. 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 40813, 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]. merke is at rank #6,565, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛʁkə].
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 40813, this pair ranks #1,497,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Macke vs merke
Shared letters: ekm. Private to "Macke": ac. Private to "merke": r.
"Macke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "merke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Macke" for "merke" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Macke" or "merke" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Macke" and "merke" 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 "merke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,497,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Macke" and "merke" 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 #1,497,544 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.