MardervsMarmorConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,273
“Marder” frequency rank
#12,965
“Marmor” frequency rank
51238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marder Marmor
Definition eine Familie (Mustelidae) hundeartiger Raubtiere äußerst hartes, häufig geädertes Kalkgestein, das in verschiedensten Farben vorkommt und für Bildhauerarbeiten und als Baumaterial eingesetzt wird

Where the eye mixes Marder and Marmor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Marder
6 ch
Marmor

Why the eye confuses Marder with Marmor

A purely visual mix-up. Marder ([ˈmaʁdɐ]) and Marmor ([ˈmaʁmoːɐ̯]) 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 51238, 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]. Marmor is at rank #12,965, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʁmoːɐ̯].

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 51238, this pair ranks #1,143,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Marder vs Marmor

Shared letters: amr. Private to "Marder": de. Private to "Marmor": o.

"Marder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Marmor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marderamrder · madrer · mardder · marderr · mardre · maredr · marrder · mmarder
  • Marmoramrmor · mamror · marmmor · marmorr · marmro · maromr · marrmor · mmarmor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Marder" and "Marmor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʁdɐ] versus [ˈmaʁmoːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Marder" or "Marmor" show up more?
"Marmor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,965 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Marder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Marmor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,143,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Marder" and "Marmor" 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 #1,143,220 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