Which to use
“mehren” and “melken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,233
- “mehren” frequency rank
- #27,412
- “melken” frequency rank
- 50645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mehren | melken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine Zunahme erwirken, vergrößern | Milch vom Milchvieh gewinnen |
Where the eye mixes mehren and melken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mehren and melken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between mehren and melken
A purely visual mix-up. mehren ([ˈmeːʁən]) and melken ([ˈmɛlkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mehren is recorded at frequency rank #23,233, classified as averb, 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 50645, this pair ranks #1,165,897 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mehren vs melken
Shared letters: emn. Private to "mehren": hr. Private to "melken": kl.
"mehren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "melken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mehren" for "melken" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mehren" vs "melken" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mehren" 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 #1,165,897 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mehren" and "melken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melken vs Milben". 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 #1,165,897 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.