maiden vs melden, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“maiden” is a noun and “melden” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,670
“maiden” frequency rank: #1,816
“melden” frequency rank: 44486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maiden	melden
Definition	die Maid, die Magd	ein Ereignis (beispielsweise einem Vorgesetzten oder einer offiziellen Stelle) berichten

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maiden and melden apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

maiden

6 ch

melden

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maiden is anoun and meldenaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maiden is recorded at frequency rank #42,670, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. melden is at rank #1,816, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛldn̩].

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 44486, this pair ranks #1,384,677 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maiden vs melden

Shared letters: demn. Private to "maiden": ai. Private to "melden": l.

"maiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "melden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

maiden ← amiden · madien · maidden · maidenn · maidne · maiedn · miaden · mmaiden
melden ← emlden · medlen · meldden · meldenn · meldne · meledn · mellden · mleden

Frequency comparison

maiden#42,670

melden#1,816

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maiden" and "melden" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maiden" is a noun and "melden" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "maiden" or "melden"?

"melden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,816 in our German list, against #42,670 for "maiden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering maiden vs melden

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “maiden”; for a verb, it's “melden”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maiden” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable