Which to use
“mailen” and “meinen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,065
- “mailen” frequency rank
- #280
- “meinen” frequency rank
- 49345
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mailen | meinen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine E-Mail versenden, schicken | einen bestimmten Standpunkt oder eine bestimmte Meinung vertreten |
Where the eye mixes mailen and meinen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mailen and meinen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: mailen vs meinen
A purely visual mix-up. mailen ([ˈmɛɪ̯lən]) and meinen ([ˈmaɪ̯nən]) 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 49345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mailen is recorded at frequency rank #49,065, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛɪ̯lən]. meinen is at rank #280, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯nən].
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 49345, this pair ranks #1,214,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mailen vs meinen
Shared letters: eimn. Private to "mailen": al. Private to "meinen": -.
"mailen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "meinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mailen" and "meinen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mailen" vs "meinen" - which ranks higher?
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 "mailen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meinen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,214,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mailen" and "meinen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen vs mailen". 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 #1,214,999 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.