Which to use
“Mark” is a noun and “melk” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,703
- “Mark” frequency rank
- #41,987
- “melk” frequency rank
- 43690
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mark | melk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | historische Gewichts- bzw. Masseneinheit, die ab dem 11. Jahrhundert das Pfund als Edelmetall- und Münzgewicht verdrängte. Die Mark ist traditionell ein halbes Pfund und wurde üblicherweise in 8 Unzen oder 16 Lot eingeteilt | Milch gebend |
Where the eye mixes Mark and melk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Mark with melk
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mark is [maʁk] while melk is [mɛlk]. 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 43690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Mark is recorded at frequency rank #1,703, classified as anoun, pronounced [maʁk]. melk is at rank #41,987, tagged as anadj, pronounced [mɛlk].
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 43690, this pair ranks #1,410,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Mark vs melk
Shared letters: km. Private to "Mark": ar. Private to "melk": el.
"Mark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "melk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Mark" and "melk" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Mark" or "melk" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Mark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "melk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,410,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Mark" and "melk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs melk". 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 #1,410,029 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.