martenvsmattesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: marten is a noun, mattes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“marten” is a noun and “mattes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,341
“marten” frequency rank
#38,895
“mattes” frequency rank
82236
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marten mattes
Definition der Marder Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs matt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set marten and mattes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
marten
6 ch
mattes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: marten is anoun and mattesanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82236, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marten is recorded at frequency rank #43,341, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. mattes is at rank #38,895, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmatəs].

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 82236, this pair ranks #160,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marten vs mattes

Shared letters: aemt. Private to "marten": nr. Private to "mattes": s.

"marten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mattes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • martenamrten · maretn · marrten · martenn · martne · martten · matren · mmarten
  • mattesmatets · mattess · mattse · mmattes · mtates

Frequency comparison

marten#43,341
mattes#38,895

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marten" and "mattes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marten" is a noun and "mattes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "marten" or "mattes"?
"mattes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,895 in our German list, against #43,341 for "marten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering marten vs mattes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “marten”; for an adjective, it's “mattes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marten” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list