meavsmirConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#36,498
“mea” frequency rank
#62
“mir” frequency rank
36560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mea mir
Definition Possessivpronomen der 1. Person Singular ‚mein‘, ‚meine‘ Dativ der ersten Person Singular

Where the eye mixes mea and mir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mea
3 ch
mir

Visual trap between mea and mir

A purely visual mix-up. mea ([ˈmea]) and mir ([miːɐ̯]) 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 36560, 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]. mir is at rank #62, tagged as apron, pronounced [miːɐ̯].

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 36560, this pair ranks #1,612,478 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mea vs mir

Shared letters: m. Private to "mea": ae. Private to "mir": ir.

"mea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mir" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mea" and "mir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmea] versus [miːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mea" or "mir" show up more?
"mir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #62 in our German list, against #36,498 for "mea". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,612,478 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mea" and "mir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mea vs mora". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,612,478 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