MardervsmilderWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Marder is a noun, milder is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#38,273
“Marder” frequency rank
#25,670
“milder” frequency rank
63943
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marder milder
Definition eine Familie (Mustelidae) hundeartiger Raubtiere Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mild

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Marder and milder apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Marder
6 ch
milder

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Marder is [ˈmaʁdɐ] while milder is [ˈmɪldɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63943, 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]. milder is at rank #25,670, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmɪldɐ].

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 63943, this pair ranks #658,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Marder vs milder

Shared letters: demr. Private to "Marder": a. Private to "milder": il.

"Marder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "milder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marderamrder · madrer · mardder · marderr · mardre · maredr · marrder · mmarder
  • milderimlder · midler · mildder · milderr · mildre · miledr · millder · mlider

Frequency comparison

Marder#38,273
milder#25,670

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Marder" and "milder" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Marder" is a noun and "milder" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Marder" or "milder"?
"milder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,670 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.

Remembering Marder vs milder

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Marder”; for an adjective, it's “milder”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Marder” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list