maidenvsMindenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: maiden is a noun, Minden is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maiden” is a noun and “Minden” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,670
“maiden” frequency rank
#9,776
“Minden” frequency rank
52446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maiden Minden
Definition die Maid, die Magd eine Stadt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland

Letter map: maiden vs Minden

Shared letters muted; letters that set maiden and Minden apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
maiden
6 ch
Minden

Role in the sentence - maiden and Minden

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maiden is anoun and Mindenaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maiden is recorded at frequency rank #42,670, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. Minden is at rank #9,776, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈmɪndn̩].

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 52446, this pair ranks #1,096,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maiden vs Minden

Shared letters: deimn. Private to "maiden": a. Private to "Minden": -.

"maiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Minden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maidenamiden · madien · maidden · maidenn · maidne · maiedn · miaden · mmaiden
  • Mindenimnden · midnen · mindden · mindenn · mindne · minedn · minnden · mminden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maiden" for "Minden" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maiden" is a noun and "Minden" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "maiden" vs "Minden" - which ranks higher?
"Minden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,776 in our German list, against #42,670 for "maiden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "maiden" vs "Minden" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Minden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,096,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maiden" and "Minden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maiden vs puzzles". 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 #1,096,635 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