Which to use
“mähen” is a verb and “makes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,426
- “mähen” frequency rank
- #38,890
- “makes” frequency rank
- 66316
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mähen | makes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit der Sense, Sichel, mit einer Mähmaschine Pflanzen bis zum Ansatz dicht über dem Erdboden wegschneiden | Plural des Substantivs make |
Where the eye mixes mähen and makes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mähen and makes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mähen with makes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mähen is [ˈmɛːən] while makes is [meɪks]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mähen is recorded at frequency rank #27,426, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛːən]. makes is at rank #38,890, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meɪks].
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 66316, this pair ranks #577,445 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mähen vs makes
Shared letters: em. Private to "mähen": hnä. Private to "makes": aks.
"mähen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- makes ← amkes · maeks · makess · makkes · mkaes · mmakes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mähen" and "makes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "mähen" or "makes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mähen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "makes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #577,445 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mähen" and "makes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs Mals". 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 #577,445 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.