MakelvsmakesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,228
“Makel” frequency rank
#38,890
“makes” frequency rank
64118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Makel makes
Definition Fehler, Mangel, Unreinheit oder Unvollkommenheit, die einen Gegenstand oder eine Person beeinträchtigen Plural des Substantivs make

Where the eye mixes Makel and makes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Makel and makes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Makel
5 ch
makes

Visual trap between Makel and makes

A purely visual mix-up. Makel ([ˈmaːkl̩]) and makes ([meɪks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “Makel” becomes s in “makes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Makel is recorded at frequency rank #25,228, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːkl̩]. 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 64118, this pair ranks #652,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Makel vs makes

Shared letters: aekm. Private to "Makel": l. Private to "makes": s.

"Makel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Makel ← amkel · maekl · makell · makkel · makle · mkael · mmakel
  • makes ← amkes · maeks · makess · makkes · mkaes · mmakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Makel" and "makes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːkl̩] versus [meɪks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Makel" vs "makes" - which ranks higher?
"Makel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,228 in our German list, against #38,890 for "makes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Makel" 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 #652,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Makel" 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 #652,809 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