MaikevsmerkeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#35,311
“Maike” frequency rank
#6,565
“merke” frequency rank
41876
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maike merke
Definition weiblicher Vorname 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs merken

Where the eye mixes Maike and merke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Maike
5 ch
merke

Visual trap between Maike and merke

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Maike is [ˈmaɪ̯kə] while merke is [ˈmɛʁkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maike is recorded at frequency rank #35,311, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯kə]. merke is at rank #6,565, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛʁkə].

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 41876, this pair ranks #1,466,396 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Maike vs merke

Shared letters: ekm. Private to "Maike": ai. Private to "merke": r.

"Maike" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "merke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maikeamike · maiek · maikke · makie · miake · mmaike
  • merkeemrke · mekre · merek · merkke · merrke · mmerke · mreke

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Maike" and "merke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Maike" is a name and "merke" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Maike" vs "merke" - which ranks higher?
"merke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,565 in our German list, against #35,311 for "Maike". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maike" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "merke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,466,396 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maike" and "merke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maike 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 #1,466,396 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