Which to use
“messern” is a verb and “Messers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,667
- “messern” frequency rank
- #38,899
- “Messers” frequency rank
- 64566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | messern | Messers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit einem Messer schneiden/bearbeiten | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Messer |
Where the eye mixes messern and Messers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. messern and Messers follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: messern vs Messers
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: messern is [ˈmɛsɐn] while Messers is [ˈmɛsɐs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “messern” becomes s in “Messers”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
messern is recorded at frequency rank #25,667, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛsɐn]. 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 64566, this pair ranks #636,946 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of messern vs Messers
Shared letters: emrs. Private to "messern": n. Private to "Messers": -.
"messern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "Messers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "messern" and "Messers" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "messern" or "Messers" show up more?
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 "messern" 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 #636,946 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "messern" and "Messers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "members vs Messers". 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 #636,946 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.