MardervsMarekWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Marder is a noun, Marek is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Marder” is a noun and “Marek” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,273
“Marder” frequency rank
#23,227
“Marek” frequency rank
61500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marder Marek
Definition eine Familie (Mustelidae) hundeartiger Raubtiere Familienname

Letter map: Marder vs Marek

Shared letters muted; letters that set Marder and Marek apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
Marder
5 ch
Marek

Part-of-speech tell for Marder / Marek

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Marder is anoun and Marekaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Marder is recorded at frequency rank #38,273, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʁdɐ]. Marek is at rank #23,227, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 61500, this pair ranks #747,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Marder vs Marek

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "Marder": d. Private to "Marek": k.

"Marder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Marek" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marderamrder · madrer · mardder · marderr · mardre · maredr · marrder · mmarder
  • Marekamrek · maerk · marekk · marrek · mmarek · mraek

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Marder" and "Marek" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Marder" is a noun and "Marek" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Marder" vs "Marek" - which ranks higher?
"Marek" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,227 in our German list, against #38,273 for "Marder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "Marder" vs "Marek" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Marder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Marek" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #747,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Marder" and "Marek" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marder 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 #747,453 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