meidenvsmeldenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,482
“meiden” frequency rank
#1,816
“melden” frequency rank
13298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meiden melden
Definition etwas dafür tun, einer Person oder Sache nicht zu begegnen ein Ereignis (beispielsweise einem Vorgesetzten oder einer offiziellen Stelle) berichten

Where the eye mixes meiden and melden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. meiden (CVVCVC) and melden (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
meiden
6 ch
melden

Why the eye confuses meiden with melden

A purely visual mix-up. meiden ([ˈmaɪ̯dn̩]) and melden ([ˈmɛldn̩]) 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 - i in “meiden” becomes l in “melden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meiden is recorded at frequency rank #11,482, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯dn̩]. melden is at rank #1,816, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛldn̩].

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 13298, this pair ranks #1,958,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of meiden vs melden

Shared letters: demn. Private to "meiden": i. Private to "melden": l.

"meiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "melden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meiden ← emiden · meidden · meidenn · meidne · meiedn · mieden · mmeiden
  • melden ← emlden · medlen · meldden · meldenn · meldne · meledn · mellden · mleden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meiden" and "melden" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɪ̯dn̩] versus [ˈmɛldn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "meiden" or "melden"?
"melden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,816 in our German list, against #11,482 for "meiden". 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 "meiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "melden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meiden" and "melden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen vs meiden". 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 #1,958,872 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