marksvsMaskeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#25,230
“marks” frequency rank
#5,623
“Maske” frequency rank
30853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marks Maske
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mark Gegenstand zur Verhüllung oder zum Schutz

Letter map: marks vs Maske

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

5 ch
marks
5 ch
Maske

Grammar separator: marks vs Maske

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: marks is averb and Maskeanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marks is recorded at frequency rank #25,230, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Maske is at rank #5,623, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaskə].

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 30853, this pair ranks #1,739,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marks vs Maske

Shared letters: akms. Private to "marks": r. Private to "Maske": e.

"marks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Maske" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marksamrks · makrs · markks · markss · marrks · marsk · mmarks · mraks
  • Maskeamske · makse · masek · maskke · masske · mmaske · msake

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marks" for "Maske" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marks" is a verb and "Maske" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "marks" or "Maske" show up more?
"Maske" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,623 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.

After this comparison

Pair "marks" vs "Maske" 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 "Maske" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,739,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marks" and "Maske" 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 #1,739,777 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