merle
[mɛʁl]
The verdict
“merle” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #28,761 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,761
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Amsel
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | merle |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [mɛʁl] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #28,761 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “merle” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for merle is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [mɛʁl]. Corpus data places it at rank #28,761 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Amsel".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for merle, with forms such as "emrle", "melre", and "merel". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mile", "Messe", "Mühle", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is merle, spelled M-E-R-L-E.
Definition
- 1Amsel
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emrle,melre,merel,merlle,merrle,mmerle,mrele
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of merle - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "merle"?
What does "merle" mean?
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Using “merle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is M-E-R-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [mɛʁl] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mile” - see the side-by-side comparison. merle vs mile
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.