Which to use
“mea” is a pronoun and “mean” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,498
- “mea” frequency rank
- #19,306
- “mean” frequency rank
- 55804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mea | mean |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Possessivpronomen der 1. Person Singular ‚mein‘, ‚meine‘ | das Ergebnis der Division einer Summe von Zahlen durch deren Anzahl |
Where the eye mixes mea and mean
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mea vs mean
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mea is [ˈmea] while mean is [mi(ː)n]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mea” sits inside “mean”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mea is recorded at frequency rank #36,498, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈmea]. mean is at rank #19,306, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mi(ː)n].
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 55804, this pair ranks #965,070 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mea vs mean
Shared letters: aem. Private to "mea": -. Private to "mean": n.
"mea" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mean" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mean ← eman · meann · mena · mmean
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mea" for "mean" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "mea" or "mean" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mea" and "mean" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mean" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #965,070 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mea" and "mean" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mea vs mora". 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 #965,070 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.