Which to use
“Maine” is a name and “meiner” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,837
- “Maine” frequency rank
- #252
- “meiner” frequency rank
- 28089
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Maine | meiner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bundesstaat im Nordosten der USA | 1. Person Singular Genitiv des Personalpronomens ich |
Where the eye mixes Maine and meiner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Maine runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against meiner's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Maine with meiner
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Maine is [meːn] while meiner is [ˈmaɪ̯nɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Maine is recorded at frequency rank #27,837, classified as aname, pronounced [meːn]. meiner is at rank #252, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯nɐ].
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 28089, this pair ranks #1,790,750 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Maine vs meiner
Shared letters: eimn. Private to "Maine": a. Private to "meiner": r.
"Maine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "meiner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Maine" for "meiner" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Maine" or "meiner"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Maine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meiner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,790,750 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Maine" and "meiner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen vs Maine". 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 #1,790,750 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.