meivsmuWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mei is a noun, mu is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mei” is a noun and “mu” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,695
“mei” frequency rank
#18,336
“mu” frequency rank
29031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mei mu
Definition meine, die meinen/meinigen mit Bezug auf mehrere vorher erwähnte Objekte oder Personen Genitiv Singular des Personalpronomens mina

Letter map: mei vs mu

Shared letters muted; letters that set mei and mu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
mei
2 ch
mu

Grammar separator: mei vs mu

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mei is anoun and muanunknown. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29031, 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]. mu is at rank #18,336, tagged as anunknown, pronounced […].

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 29031, this pair ranks #1,774,277 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mei vs mu

Shared letters: m. Private to "mei": ei. Private to "mu": u.

"mei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mei" and "mu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mei" is a noun and "mu" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mei" vs "mu" - which ranks higher?
"mei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,695 in our German list, against #18,336 for "mu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "mei" vs "mu" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,774,277 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mei" and "mu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mu vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,774,277 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