Which to use
“Meeren” is a noun and “melken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,085
- “Meeren” frequency rank
- #27,412
- “melken” frequency rank
- 67497
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Meeren | melken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Meer | Milch vom Milchvieh gewinnen |
Where the eye mixes Meeren and melken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Meeren (CVVCVC) and melken (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses Meeren with melken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Meeren is [ˈmeːʁən] while melken is [ˈmɛlkn̩]. 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 67497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Meeren is recorded at frequency rank #40,085, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeːʁən]. melken is at rank #27,412, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛlkn̩].
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 67497, this pair ranks #538,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Meeren vs melken
Shared letters: emn. Private to "Meeren": r. Private to "melken": kl.
"Meeren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "melken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Meeren" for "melken" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Meeren" vs "melken" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Meeren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "melken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #538,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Meeren" and "melken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Meeren vs murren". 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 #538,335 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.