Which to use
“meide” is a verb and “merle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,897
- “meide” frequency rank
- #28,761
- “merle” frequency rank
- 67658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meide | merle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs meiden | Amsel |
Where the eye mixes meide and merle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. meide (CVVCV) and merle (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: meide vs merle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meide is [ˈmaɪ̯də] while merle is [mɛʁl]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meide is recorded at frequency rank #38,897, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯də]. merle is at rank #28,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɛʁl].
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 67658, this pair ranks #532,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of meide vs merle
Shared letters: em. Private to "meide": di. Private to "merle": lr.
"meide" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "merle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "meide" and "merle" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "meide" or "merle" show up more?
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 "meide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #532,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meide" and "merle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meide vs Mette". 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 #532,997 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.