MärktenvsmerkenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,707
“Märkten” frequency rank
#3,139
“merken” frequency rank
13846
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Märkten merken
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Markt etwas mit den Sinnen wahrnehmen, sich einer Sache bewusst werden

Where the eye mixes Märkten and merken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Märkten
6 ch
merken

Look-alike desk: Märkten vs merken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Märkten is [ˈmɛʁktn̩] while merken is [ˈmɛʁkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Märkten is recorded at frequency rank #10,707, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛʁktn̩]. 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 13846, this pair ranks #1,955,287 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Märkten vs merken

Shared letters: ekmnr. Private to "Märkten": . Private to "merken": -.

"Märkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "merken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • merkenemrken · mekren · merekn · merkenn · merkken · merkne · merrken · mmerken

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Märkten" and "merken" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Märkten" is a noun and "merken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Märkten" or "merken" show up more?
"merken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,139 in our German list, against #10,707 for "Märkten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Märkten" 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 #1,955,287 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Märkten" and "merken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Märkten 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 #1,955,287 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