Which to use
“mei” and “men” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,695
- “mei” frequency rank
- #6,327
- “men” frequency rank
- 17022
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mei | men |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | meine, die meinen/meinigen mit Bezug auf mehrere vorher erwähnte Objekte oder Personen | Plural des Substantivs man |
Where the eye mixes mei and men
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mei and men
A purely visual mix-up. mei ([ˈmeʔi]) and men ([mɛn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - i in “mei” becomes n in “men”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mei is recorded at frequency rank #10,695, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeʔi]. men is at rank #6,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɛn].
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 17022, this pair ranks #1,931,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mei vs men
Shared letters: em. Private to "mei": i. Private to "men": n.
"mei" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "men" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mei" for "men" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mei" or "men"?
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 "mei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "men" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,931,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mei" and "men" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mei vs mme". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,931,023 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.