meldvsmerleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: meld is a verb, merle is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“meld” is a verb and “merle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,760
“meld” frequency rank
#28,761
“merle” frequency rank
57521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meld merle
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs melden Amsel

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meld and merle apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
meld
5 ch
merle

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meld is [mɛlt] while merle is [mɛʁl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meld is recorded at frequency rank #28,760, classified as averb, pronounced [mɛlt]. 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 57521, this pair ranks #898,190 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meld vs merle

Shared letters: elm. Private to "meld": d. Private to "merle": r.

"meld" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "merle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meldemld · medl · meldd · melld · mled · mmeld
  • merleemrle · melre · merel · merlle · merrle · mmerle · mrele

Frequency comparison

meld#28,760
merle#28,761

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meld" and "merle" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meld" is a verb and "merle" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "meld" or "merle"?
"meld" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,760 in our German list, against #28,761 for "merle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering meld vs merle

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “meld”; for a noun, it's “merle”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “meld” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list