Which to use
“meinten” and “merkten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,329
- “meinten” frequency rank
- #34,259
- “merkten” frequency rank
- 44588
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meinten | merkten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs meinen | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs merken |
Where the eye mixes meinten and merkten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. meinten (CVVCCVC) and merkten (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between meinten and merkten
A purely visual mix-up. meinten ([ˈmaɪ̯ntn̩]) and merkten ([ˈmɛʁktn̩]) 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 44588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meinten is recorded at frequency rank #10,329, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯ntn̩]. merkten is at rank #34,259, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛʁktn̩].
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 44588, this pair ranks #1,381,313 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of meinten vs merkten
Shared letters: emnt. Private to "meinten": i. Private to "merkten": kr.
"meinten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "merkten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meinten" for "merkten" ever safe?
Which is more common, "meinten" or "merkten"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "meinten" and "merkten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "meinten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merkten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,381,313 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meinten" and "merkten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marten vs merkten". 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 #1,381,313 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.