marksvsMaryConfusable pair

Quick tell: marks is a verb, Mary is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“marks” is a verb and “Mary” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,230
“marks” frequency rank
#4,536
“Mary” frequency rank
29766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marks Mary
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mark weiblicher Vorname

Letter map: marks vs Mary

Shared letters muted; letters that set marks and Mary apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
marks
4 ch
Mary

Role in the sentence - marks and Mary

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: marks is averb and Maryaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marks is recorded at frequency rank #25,230, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Mary is at rank #4,536, tagged as aname, 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 29766, this pair ranks #1,760,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marks vs Mary

Shared letters: amr. Private to "marks": ks. Private to "Mary": y.

"marks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Mary" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marksamrks · makrs · markks · markss · marrks · marsk · mmarks · mraks
  • Maryamry · marry · maryy · mmary · mray

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "marks" and "Mary" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marks" is a verb and "Mary" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "marks" vs "Mary" - which ranks higher?
"Mary" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,536 in our German list, against #25,230 for "marks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "marks" vs "Mary" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mary" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,760,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marks" and "Mary" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marks 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 #1,760,716 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