MedaillenvsMedaillonTell them apart

Which to use

“Medaillen” and “Medaillon” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,328
“Medaillen” frequency rank
#38,280
“Medaillon” frequency rank
48608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Medaillen Medaillon
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Medaille Schmuckstück in Form einer Plakette oder Scheibe, das oft als Hals- oder Armbandanhänger getragen wird und auf einer Seite ein eingraviertes oder geprägtes Bild oder Symbol trägt

Where the eye mixes Medaillen and Medaillon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Medaillen and Medaillon follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
Medaillen
9 ch
Medaillon

Why the eye confuses Medaillen with Medaillon

A purely visual mix-up. Medaillen ([meˈdaljən]) and Medaillon ([medalˈjɔ̃ː]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “Medaillen” becomes o in “Medaillon”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Medaillen is recorded at frequency rank #10,328, classified as anoun, pronounced [meˈdaljən]. Medaillon is at rank #38,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced [medalˈjɔ̃ː].

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 48608, this pair ranks #1,242,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Medaillen vs Medaillon

Shared letters: adeilmn. Private to "Medaillen": -. Private to "Medaillon": o.

"Medaillen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC  ·  "Medaillon" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Medaillen ← emdaillen · mdeaillen · meadillen · medaileln · medailen · medaillenn · medaillne · medalilen
  • Medaillon ← emdaillon · mdeaillon · meadillon · medaillno · medaillonn · medailoln · medailon · medalilon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Medaillen" for "Medaillon" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([meˈdaljən] versus [medalˈjɔ̃ː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Medaillen" vs "Medaillon" - which ranks higher?
"Medaillen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,328 in our German list, against #38,280 for "Medaillon". 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 "Medaillen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Medaillon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,242,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Medaillen" and "Medaillon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Medaillen vs Metallen". 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 #1,242,238 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