märkischevsmärkischenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,344
“märkische” frequency rank
#25,246
“märkischen” frequency rank
60590
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature märkische märkischen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs märkisch Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs märkisch

Where the eye mixes märkische and märkischen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. märkische runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCCV) against märkischen's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
märkische
10 ch
märkischen

Why the eye confuses märkische with märkischen

A purely visual mix-up. märkische ([ˈmɛʁkɪʃə]) and märkischen ([ˈmɛʁkɪʃn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “märkische” sits inside “märkischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

märkische is recorded at frequency rank #35,344, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmɛʁkɪʃə]. märkischen is at rank #25,246, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmɛʁkɪʃn̩].

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 60590, this pair ranks #781,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of märkische vs märkischen

Shared letters: cehikmrsä. Private to "märkische": -. Private to "märkischen": n.

"märkische" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "märkischen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "märkische" and "märkischen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛʁkɪʃə] versus [ˈmɛʁkɪʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "märkische" or "märkischen" show up more?
"märkischen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,246 in our German list, against #35,344 for "märkische". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "märkische" and "märkischen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "märkische" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "märkischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #781,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "märkische" and "märkischen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "märkische vs Märsche". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #781,344 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