Which to use
“Märkten” is a noun and “merkten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,707
- “Märkten” frequency rank
- #34,259
- “merkten” frequency rank
- 44966
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Märkten | merkten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Markt | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs merken |
Same sound, different letters: Märkten vs merkten
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. Märkten and merkten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Same sound, different spelling - Märkten / merkten
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: Märkten and merkten carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈmɛʁktn̩]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - ä in “Märkten” becomes e in “merkten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44966, 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]. merkten is at rank #34,259, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛʁktn̩].
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 44966, this pair ranks #1,368,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Märkten vs merkten
Shared letters: ekmnrt. Private to "Märkten": ä. Private to "merkten": -.
"Märkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "merkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- merkten ← emrkten · mekrten · merketn · merkkten · merktenn · merktne · merktten · merrkten
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Märkten" and "merkten" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Märkten" or "merkten" show up more?
After this comparison
"Märkten" and "merkten" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "Märkten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merkten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,368,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Märkten" and "merkten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marten vs merkten". 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 #1,368,816 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.