MakrovsMikroWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,188
“Makro” frequency rank
#11,931
“Mikro” frequency rank
42119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Makro Mikro
Definition eine fest vorgegebene Folge von Befehlen, Aktionen oder Tastaturcodes in den Bereichen Anwendungsprogramme, Programmierung und PC-Spiele (länger auch Makrobefehl) technisches Gerät zur Aufnahme von Tönen

Where the eye mixes Makro and Mikro

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

5 ch
Makro
5 ch
Mikro

Look-alike desk: Makro vs Mikro

A purely visual mix-up. Makro ([ˈmaːkʁo]) and Mikro ([ˈmiːkʁo]) 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 - a in “Makro” becomes i in “Mikro”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Makro is recorded at frequency rank #30,188, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaːkʁo]. Mikro is at rank #11,931, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmiːkʁo].

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 42119, this pair ranks #1,458,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Makro vs Mikro

Shared letters: kmor. Private to "Makro": a. Private to "Mikro": i.

"Makro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Mikro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Makro ← amkro · makkro · makor · makrro · mkaro · mmakro
  • Mikro ← imkro · mikkro · mikor · mikrro · mirko · mkiro · mmikro

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Makro" for "Mikro" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaːkʁo] versus [ˈmiːkʁo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Makro" or "Mikro"?
"Mikro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,931 in our German list, against #30,188 for "Makro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Makro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mikro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,458,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Makro" and "Mikro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Makro vs miro". 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 #1,458,997 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