membersvsMessersTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,139
“members” frequency rank
#38,899
“Messers” frequency rank
85038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature members Messers
Definition Plural des Substantivs member Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Messer

Where the eye mixes members and Messers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. members and Messers follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
members
7 ch
Messers

Look-alike desk: members vs Messers

A purely visual mix-up. members ([ˈmɛmbəs]) and Messers ([ˈmɛsɐs]) 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 85038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

members is recorded at frequency rank #46,139, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛmbəs]. Messers is at rank #38,899, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛsɐs].

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 85038, this pair ranks #114,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of members vs Messers

Shared letters: emrs. Private to "members": b. Private to "Messers": -.

"members" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "Messers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • members ← emmbers · mebmers · membbers · memberrs · memberss · membesr · membres · memebrs
  • Messers ← emssers · mesers · mesesrs · messerrs · messerss · messesr · messres · meßers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "members" and "Messers" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛmbəs] versus [ˈmɛsɐs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "members" or "Messers"?
"Messers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,899 in our German list, against #46,139 for "members". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "members" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Messers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "members" and "Messers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Messers vs Messner". 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 #114,418 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