MainevsmeinesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Maine is a name, meines is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Maine” is a name and “meines” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,837
“Maine” frequency rank
#1,137
“meines” frequency rank
28974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maine meines
Definition Bundesstaat im Nordosten der USA Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Possessivpronomens mein

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Maine and meines apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Maine
6 ch
meines

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Maine and meines form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28974, 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]. meines is at rank #1,137, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯nəs].

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 28974, this pair ranks #1,775,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

Maine#27,837
meines#1,137

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Maine" and "meines" be used interchangeably?
No, "Maine" and "meines" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering Maine vs meines

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Maine”; for an unknown, it's “meines”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Maine” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list