MardervsMargeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,273
“Marder” frequency rank
#23,228
“Marge” frequency rank
61501
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marder Marge
Definition eine Familie (Mustelidae) hundeartiger Raubtiere ein Unterschied, der auftreten darf; Spielraum, Spanne

Where the eye mixes Marder and Marge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Marder runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Marge's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Marder
5 ch
Marge

Look-alike desk: Marder vs Marge

A purely visual mix-up. Marder ([ˈmaʁdɐ]) and Marge ([ˈmaʁʒə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61501, 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]. Marge is at rank #23,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʁʒə].

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 61501, this pair ranks #747,417 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Marder vs Marge

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "Marder": d. Private to "Marge": g.

"Marder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Marge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marder ← amrder · madrer · mardder · marderr · mardre · maredr · marrder · mmarder
  • Marge ← amrge · mareg · margge · marrge · mmarge · mrage

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Marder" and "Marge" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʁdɐ] versus [ˈmaʁʒə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Marder" or "Marge"?
"Marge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,228 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Marder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Marge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #747,417 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Marder" and "Marge" 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 #747,417 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