merlevsMordeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,761
“merle” frequency rank
#9,419
“Morde” frequency rank
38180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature merle Morde
Definition Amsel Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Mord

Where the eye mixes merle and Morde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
merle
5 ch
Morde

Look-alike desk: merle vs Morde

A purely visual mix-up. merle ([mɛʁl]) and Morde ([ˈmɔʁdə]) 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 38180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

merle is recorded at frequency rank #28,761, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛʁl]. Morde is at rank #9,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔʁdə].

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 38180, this pair ranks #1,570,779 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of merle vs Morde

Shared letters: emr. Private to "merle": l. Private to "Morde": do.

"merle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Morde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • merleemrle · melre · merel · merlle · merrle · mmerle · mrele
  • Mordemmorde · modre · mordde · mored · morrde · mrode · omrde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "merle" and "Morde" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mɛʁl] versus [ˈmɔʁdə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "merle" or "Morde"?
"Morde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,419 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "merle" and "Morde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "merle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Morde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,570,779 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "merle" and "Morde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "merle vs Mette". 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 #1,570,779 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