MadenvsmartenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,673
“Maden” frequency rank
#43,341
“marten” frequency rank
75014
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maden marten
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Made der Marder

Letter map: Maden vs marten

Shared letters muted; letters that set Maden and marten apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. Maden runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against marten's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Maden
6 ch
marten

Pair insight - Maden / marten

Maden and marten are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maden is recorded at frequency rank #31,673, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːdn̩]. marten is at rank #43,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 75014, this pair ranks #318,639 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Maden vs marten

Shared letters: aemn. Private to "Maden": d. Private to "marten": rt.

"Maden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "marten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maden ← amden · madden · madenn · madne · maedn · mdaen · mmaden
  • marten ← amrten · maretn · marrten · martenn · martne · martten · matren · mmarten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Maden" and "marten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Maden" vs "marten" - which ranks higher?
"Maden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,673 in our German list, against #43,341 for "marten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Maden" and "marten".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,639 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maden" and "marten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marten vs puzzles". 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 #318,639 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