MaschevsmischTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#16,778
“Masche” frequency rank
#28,313
“misch” frequency rank
45091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Masche misch
Definition eine aus Garn, Faden, Draht oder Ähnlichem gefertigte Schlinge, die beim Stricken, Häkeln oder durch Verknüpfen entsteht 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mischen

Where the eye mixes Masche and misch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Masche runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against misch's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Masche
5 ch
misch

Look-alike desk: Masche vs misch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Masche is [ˈmaʃə] while misch is [mɪʃ]. 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 45091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Masche is recorded at frequency rank #16,778, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaʃə]. misch is at rank #28,313, tagged as averb, pronounced [mɪʃ].

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 45091, this pair ranks #1,364,798 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Masche vs misch

Shared letters: chms. Private to "Masche": ae. Private to "misch": i.

"Masche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "misch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Masche ← amsche · macshe · mascche · masceh · maschhe · mashce · massche · mmasche
  • misch ← imsch · micsh · miscch · mischh · mishc · missch · mmisch · msich

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Masche" and "misch" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Masche" is a noun and "misch" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Masche" or "misch"?
"Masche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,778 in our German list, against #28,313 for "misch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Masche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "misch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,364,798 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Masche" and "misch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mascha vs misch". 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 #1,364,798 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