MeldervsMörderConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46,839
“Melder” frequency rank
#4,723
“Mörder” frequency rank
51562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Melder Mörder
Definition Person oder technisches Gerät, die/das Meldung macht oder eine Information transportiert Mensch, der mindestens eine Person vorsätzlich getötet und mindestens ein Mordmerkmal verwirklicht hat

Where the eye mixes Melder and Mörder

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Melder and Mörder follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Melder
6 ch
Mörder

Why the eye confuses Melder with Mörder

A purely visual mix-up. Melder ([ˈmɛldɐ]) and Mörder ([ˈmœʁdɐ]) 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 51562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Melder is recorded at frequency rank #46,839, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛldɐ]. Mörder is at rank #4,723, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmœʁdɐ].

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 51562, this pair ranks #1,130,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Melder vs Mörder

Shared letters: demr. Private to "Melder": l. Private to "Mörder": ö.

"Melder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Mörder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Melder ← emlder · medler · meldder · melderr · meldre · meledr · mellder · mleder

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Melder" for "Mörder" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛldɐ] versus [ˈmœʁdɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Melder" or "Mörder"?
"Mörder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,723 in our German list, against #46,839 for "Melder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Melder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mörder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,130,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Melder" and "Mörder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Melder vs murder". 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 #1,130,684 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