mailenvsmixenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,065
“mailen” frequency rank
#41,349
“mixen” frequency rank
90414
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mailen mixen
Definition eine E-Mail versenden, schicken etwas, insbesondere alkoholische Getränke mischen

Where the eye mixes mailen and mixen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mailen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against mixen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mailen
5 ch
mixen

Look-alike desk: mailen vs mixen

A purely visual mix-up. mailen ([ˈmɛɪ̯lən]) and mixen ([ˈmɪksn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90414, 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]. mixen is at rank #41,349, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɪksn̩].

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 90414, this pair ranks #47,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mailen vs mixen

Shared letters: eimn. Private to "mailen": al. Private to "mixen": x.

"mailen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "mixen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mailen ← amilen · maieln · mailenn · maillen · mailne · malien · mialen · mmailen
  • mixen ← imxen · miexn · mixenn · mixne · mixxen · mmixen · mxien

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mailen" and "mixen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛɪ̯lən] versus [ˈmɪksn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mailen" or "mixen"?
"mixen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,349 in our German list, against #49,065 for "mailen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mailen" and "mixen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mailen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mixen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mailen" and "mixen" 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 #47,260 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