Which to use
“meiden” and “meinten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,482
- “meiden” frequency rank
- #10,329
- “meinten” frequency rank
- 21811
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meiden | meinten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas dafür tun, einer Person oder Sache nicht zu begegnen | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs meinen |
Where the eye mixes meiden and meinten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. meiden runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against meinten's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses meiden with meinten
A purely visual mix-up. meiden ([ˈmaɪ̯dn̩]) and meinten ([ˈmaɪ̯ntn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meiden is recorded at frequency rank #11,482, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯dn̩]. meinten is at rank #10,329, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯ntn̩].
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 21811, this pair ranks #1,881,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of meiden vs meinten
Shared letters: eimn. Private to "meiden": d. Private to "meinten": t.
"meiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "meinten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meiden" for "meinten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "meiden" or "meinten" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "meiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meinten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,881,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meiden" and "meinten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen vs meiden". 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 #1,881,882 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.