marevsmartenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,825
“mare” frequency rank
#43,341
“marten” frequency rank
68166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mare marten
Definition Stute der Marder

Letter map: mare vs marten

Shared letters muted; letters that set mare and marten apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

4 ch
mare
6 ch
marten

Pair insight - mare / marten

mare and marten are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mare is recorded at frequency rank #24,825, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛə]. marten is at rank #43,341, tagged as anoun, 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 68166, this pair ranks #516,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mare vs marten

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "mare": -. Private to "marten": nt.

"mare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "marten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maremaer · marre · mmare · mrae
  • martenamrten · maretn · marrten · martenn · martne · martten · matren · mmarten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mare" for "marten" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mare" vs "marten" - which ranks higher?
"mare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,825 in our German list, against #43,341 for "marten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "mare" vs "marten" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #516,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mare" and "marten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marten vs puzzles". 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 #516,611 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