Which to use
“Macken” is a noun and “malen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,672
- “Macken” frequency rank
- #5,735
- “malen” frequency rank
- 37407
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Macken | malen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Macke | mit Farbe bestreichen, anstreichen; mit Farbe bunt verzieren |
Where the eye mixes Macken and malen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Macken and malen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Macken is [ˈmakn̩] while malen is [ˈmaːlən]. 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 37407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Macken is recorded at frequency rank #31,672, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmakn̩]. malen is at rank #5,735, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmaːlən].
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 37407, this pair ranks #1,591,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Macken vs malen
Shared letters: aemn. Private to "Macken": ck. Private to "malen": l.
"Macken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "malen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Macken" for "malen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Macken" vs "malen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Macken" and "malen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Macken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,591,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Macken" and "malen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Macken vs mailen". 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 #1,591,092 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.