Which to use
“melk” is an adjective and “monk” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,987
- “melk” frequency rank
- #24,838
- “monk” frequency rank
- 66825
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melk | monk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Milch gebend | Mönch |
Where the eye mixes melk and monk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between melk and monk
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: melk is [mɛlk] while monk is [mʌŋk]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
melk is recorded at frequency rank #41,987, classified as anadj, pronounced [mɛlk]. monk is at rank #24,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mʌŋk].
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 66825, this pair ranks #560,239 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melk vs monk
Shared letters: km. Private to "melk": el. Private to "monk": no.
"melk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "monk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "melk" and "monk" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "melk" or "monk" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "melk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "monk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #560,239 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melk" and "monk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs melk". 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 #560,239 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.