MähnevsMieneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,097
“Mähne” frequency rank
#22,432
“Miene” frequency rank
59529
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mähne Miene
Definition Gesamtheit der langen Haare, die einigen Tieren, zum Beispiel Löwen oder Pferden, am Kopf wachsen Gesichtszüge als situativer Wesens- beziehungsweise Gemütsausdruck

Where the eye mixes Mähne and Miene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Mähne (CVCCV) and Miene (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Mähne
5 ch
Miene

Why the eye confuses Mähne with Miene

A purely visual mix-up. Mähne ([ˈmɛːnə]) and Miene ([ˈmiːnə]) 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 59529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mähne is recorded at frequency rank #37,097, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛːnə]. Miene is at rank #22,432, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmiːnə].

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 59529, this pair ranks #821,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mähne vs Miene

Shared letters: emn. Private to "Mähne": hä. Private to "Miene": i.

"Mähne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Miene" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Miene ← imene · mieen · mienne · minee · mmiene

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mähne" for "Miene" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛːnə] versus [ˈmiːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mähne" or "Miene"?
"Miene" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,432 in our German list, against #37,097 for "Mähne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mähne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Miene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #821,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mähne" and "Miene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mähne vs Möhre". 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 #821,180 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