Which to use
“matches” is a verb and “sharp” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,983
- “matches” frequency rank
- #29,787
- “sharp” frequency rank
- 47770
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | matches | sharp |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs match | so, dass es gut schneidet (zum Beispiel ein Messer oder eine Axt) |
Letter map: matches vs sharp
Shared letters muted; letters that set matches and sharp apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. matches runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against sharp's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for matches / sharp
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: matches is averb and sharpanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47770, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
matches is recorded at frequency rank #17,983, classified as averb, pronounced […]. sharp is at rank #29,787, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].
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 47770, this pair ranks #1,272,643 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of matches vs sharp
Shared letters: ahs. Private to "matches": cemt. Private to "sharp": pr.
"matches" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "sharp" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "matches" for "sharp" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "matches" or "sharp" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "matches" vs "sharp" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "matches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sharp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,272,643 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "matches" and "sharp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sharp". 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 #1,272,643 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.