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messen

German, verb

messen is spelled M-E-S-S-E-N (6 letters) and appears 20 times per million words in written German, the 3,959th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Messen is a German verb meaning “to measure (something) (to ascertain a quantity)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Messen is a different word: “gerund of messen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Größe mit Hilfe eines Maßes bestimmen”.

What does messen mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to measure (something) (to ascertain a quantity)

  2. 2

    to measure, to scrutinize (someone) (to look at judgingly)

  3. 3

    to compete

  4. 4

    to measure; to be a given size, height, width, length, etc.

    Der Tisch misst 160 Zentimeter.

noun

as Messen
  1. 1

    neutergerund of messen

noun

as Messen
  1. 1

    plural of Messe

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. eine Größe mit Hilfe eines Maßes bestimmen 2. sich mit jemandem vergleichen 3. ein bestimmtes Maß^([3]), Größe haben 4. jemanden mustern

The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.

Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of messen

  • misst present singular third-person
  • maß past
  • gemessen participle past
  • mäße past subjunctive
  • haben auxiliary
  • 5 strong
  • messend participle present
  • messe first-person indicative present
  • messt indicative plural present
  • messest second-person singular subjunctive
  • messet plural second-person subjunctive
  • maßen first-person indicative plural
  • mäßen first-person formal plural
  • maßest indicative preterite second-person
  • maßt indicative preterite second-person
  • mäßest formal rare second-person
  • mäßt formal rare second-person
  • mäßet formal plural rare

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to messen

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is messen in German?

messen appears 20 times per million words in written German.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after messen