mehrvsmeinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#61
“mehr” frequency rank
#117
“mein” frequency rank
178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mehr mein
Definition über viel hinausgehend; eine bestimmte Anzahl/Menge übersteigend zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu sich selbst an

Where the eye mixes mehr and mein

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mehr
4 ch
mein

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mehr ([meːɐ̯]) and mein ([maɪ̯n]) 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 178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mehr is recorded at frequency rank #61, classified as apron, 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 178, this pair ranks #2,006,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mehr vs mein

Shared letters: em. Private to "mehr": hr. Private to "mein": in.

"mehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mehremhr · mehhr · mehrr · merh · mher · mmehr
  • meinemin · meinn · meni · mien · mmein

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mehr" and "mein" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([meːɐ̯] versus [maɪ̯n]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mehr" or "mein"?
"mehr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #61 in our German list, against #117 for "mein". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list