MadsenvsmähenTell them apart

Quick tell: Madsen is a name, mähen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Madsen” is a name and “mähen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,315
“Madsen” frequency rank
#27,426
“mähen” frequency rank
75741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Madsen mähen
Definition dänischer Familienname mit der Sense, Sichel, mit einer Mähmaschine Pflanzen bis zum Ansatz dicht über dem Erdboden wegschneiden

Letter map: Madsen vs mähen

Shared letters muted; letters that set Madsen and mähen apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Madsen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mähen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Madsen
5 ch
mähen

Part-of-speech tell for Madsen / mähen

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Madsen is aname and mähenaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Madsen is recorded at frequency rank #48,315, classified as aname, pronounced […]. mähen is at rank #27,426, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛːən].

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 75741, this pair ranks #300,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Madsen vs mähen

Shared letters: emn. Private to "Madsen": ads. Private to "mähen": hä.

"Madsen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mähen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Madsen ← amdsen · maddsen · madesn · madsenn · madsne · madssen · masden · mdasen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Madsen" and "mähen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Madsen" is a name and "mähen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Madsen" vs "mähen" - which ranks higher?
"mähen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,426 in our German list, against #48,315 for "Madsen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "Madsen" vs "mähen" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Madsen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mähen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Madsen" and "mähen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen 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 #300,514 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