mannenvsmeinenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,797
“mannen” frequency rank
#280
“meinen” frequency rank
35077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mannen meinen
Definition etwas von Mann zu Mann reichen einen bestimmten Standpunkt oder eine bestimmte Meinung vertreten

Where the eye mixes mannen and meinen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mannen (CVCCVC) and meinen (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
mannen
6 ch
meinen

Look-alike desk: mannen vs meinen

A purely visual mix-up. mannen ([ˈmanən]) 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 35077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mannen is recorded at frequency rank #34,797, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmanən]. 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 35077, this pair ranks #1,648,642 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mannen vs meinen

Shared letters: emn. Private to "mannen": a. Private to "meinen": i.

"mannen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "meinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mannen ← amnnen · manen · manenn · mannenn · mannne · mmannen · mnanen
  • meinen ← eminen · meienn · meinenn · meinnen · menien · mienen · mmeinen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mannen" and "meinen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmanən] versus [ˈmaɪ̯nən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mannen" or "meinen"?
"meinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #280 in our German list, against #34,797 for "mannen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mannen" 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 #1,648,642 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mannen" and "meinen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen vs mannen". 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 #1,648,642 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