Which to use
“Marken” is a name and “merken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,812
- “Marken” frequency rank
- #3,139
- “merken” frequency rank
- 7951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Marken | merken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Region in Mittelitalien | etwas mit den Sinnen wahrnehmen, sich einer Sache bewusst werden |
Where the eye mixes Marken and merken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Marken with merken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Marken is [ˈmaʁkn̩] while merken is [ˈmɛʁkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Marken” becomes e in “merken”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Marken is recorded at frequency rank #4,812, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmaʁkn̩]. merken is at rank #3,139, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛʁkn̩].
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 7951, this pair ranks #1,986,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Marken vs merken
Shared letters: ekmnr. Private to "Marken": a. Private to "merken": -.
"Marken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "merken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Marken" and "merken" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Marken" or "merken"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Marken" and "merken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Marken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,986,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Marken" and "merken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marken 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 #1,986,204 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.