Which to use
“Märkten” is a noun and “merkte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,707
- “Märkten” frequency rank
- #8,596
- “merkte” frequency rank
- 19303
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Märkten | merkte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Markt | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs merken |
Where the eye mixes Märkten and merkte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Märkten runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against merkte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Märkten and merkte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Märkten is [ˈmɛʁktn̩] while merkte is [ˈmɛʁktə]. 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 19303, 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]. merkte is at rank #8,596, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛʁktə].
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 19303, this pair ranks #1,909,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Märkten vs merkte
Shared letters: ekmrt. Private to "Märkten": nä. Private to "merkte": -.
"Märkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "merkte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- merkte ← emrkte · mekrte · merket · merkkte · merktte · merrkte · mertke · mmerkte
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Märkten" for "merkte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Märkten" vs "merkte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "merkte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,909,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Märkten" and "merkte" 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 #1,909,778 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.