Which to use
“Meer” is a noun and “mein” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,638
- “Meer” frequency rank
- #117
- “mein” frequency rank
- 1755
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Meer | mein |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | großes, salziges Gewässer, die Gesamtheit des zusammenhängenden Gewässers, welches die Landmassen der Erde umgibt, ein bestimmter, geographisch abgegrenzter Teil dieses Gewässers | zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu sich selbst an |
Where the eye mixes Meer and mein
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Meer with mein
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Meer is [meːɐ̯] while mein is [maɪ̯n]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Meer is recorded at frequency rank #1,638, classified as anoun, pronounced [meːɐ̯]. mein is at rank #117, tagged as apron, pronounced [maɪ̯n].
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 1755, this pair ranks #2,003,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Meer vs mein
Shared letters: em. Private to "Meer": r. Private to "mein": in.
"Meer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Meer" for "mein" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Meer" or "mein"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Meer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mein" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,003,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Meer" and "mein" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Meer vs Memel". 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 #2,003,796 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.