MarktesvsmerktenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#8,595
“Marktes” frequency rank
#34,259
“merkten” frequency rank
42854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marktes merkten
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Markt 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs merken

Where the eye mixes Marktes and merkten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Marktes and merkten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Marktes
7 ch
merkten

Visual trap between Marktes and merkten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Marktes is [ˈmaʁktəs] while merkten is [ˈmɛʁktn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Marktes is recorded at frequency rank #8,595, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʁktəs]. 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 42854, this pair ranks #1,436,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Marktes vs merkten

Shared letters: ekmrt. Private to "Marktes": as. Private to "merkten": n.

"Marktes" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "merkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marktes ← amrktes · makrtes · markktes · marktess · marktse · markttes · marrktes · martkes
  • merkten ← emrkten · mekrten · merketn · merkkten · merktenn · merktne · merktten · merrkten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Marktes" for "merkten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Marktes" is a noun and "merkten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Marktes" vs "merkten" - which ranks higher?
"Marktes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,595 in our German list, against #34,259 for "merkten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Marktes" 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 #1,436,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Marktes" 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 #1,436,401 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