ManganvsMargenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,082
“Mangan” frequency rank
#43,338
“Margen” frequency rank
83420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mangan Margen
Definition chemisches Element mit der Ordnungszahl 25, das zur Serie der Übergangsmetalle gehört Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Marge

Where the eye mixes Mangan and Margen

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

6 ch
Mangan
6 ch
Margen

Why the eye confuses Mangan with Margen

A purely visual mix-up. Mangan ([maŋˈɡaːn]) and Margen ([ˈmaʁʒn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mangan is recorded at frequency rank #40,082, classified as anoun, pronounced [maŋˈɡaːn]. Margen is at rank #43,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʁʒn̩].

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 83420, this pair ranks #140,248 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Mangan vs Margen

Shared letters: agmn. Private to "Mangan": -. Private to "Margen": er.

"Mangan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Margen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mangan ← amngan · magnan · managn · mangann · manggan · mangna · manngan · mmangan
  • Margen ← amrgen · magren · maregn · margenn · marggen · margne · marrgen · mmargen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mangan" for "Margen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maŋˈɡaːn] versus [ˈmaʁʒn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mangan" vs "Margen" - which ranks higher?
"Mangan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,082 in our German list, against #43,338 for "Margen". 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 "Mangan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Margen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,248 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mangan" and "Margen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Margen vs maroden". 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 #140,248 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