megvsmisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: meg is a adverb, mis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“meg” is an adverb and “mis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,681
“meg” frequency rank
#37,676
“mis” frequency rank
69357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meg mis
Definition Präteritum: kennzeichnet eine Handlung als abgeschlossen rotes, leicht formbares Metall, das sich gut als Stromleiter eignet; Kupfer

Where the eye mixes meg and mis

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

3 ch
meg
3 ch
mis

Why the eye confuses meg with mis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meg is [mɛɡ] while mis is [mis]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meg is recorded at frequency rank #31,681, classified as anadv, pronounced [mɛɡ]. mis is at rank #37,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mis].

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 69357, this pair ranks #479,062 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of meg vs mis

Shared letters: m. Private to "meg": eg. Private to "mis": is.

"meg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "meg" for "mis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meg" is an adverb and "mis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "meg" or "mis"?
"meg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,681 in our German list, against #37,676 for "mis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "meg" and "mis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "meg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #479,062 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meg" and "mis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Milfs vs mis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #479,062 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