MeilevsmeinsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#15,698
“Meile” frequency rank
#7,085
“meins” frequency rank
22783
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Meile meins
Definition Längenmaß in der Größenordnung von 1 bis 11 Kilometer, früher in Deutschland und Österreich etwa 7,5 Kilometer entsprechend, noch heute offiziell im Vereinigten Königreich und in den Vereinigten Staaten (1,609 Kilometer) sowie inoffiziell noch in Norwegen und Schweden (10 Kilometer) Nominativ Singular Neutrum bei nicht attributivem Gebrauch des Possessivpronomens mein

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Meile and meins apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Meile
5 ch
meins

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Meile is [ˈmaɪ̯lə] while meins is [maɪ̯ns]. 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 (noun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22783, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Meile is recorded at frequency rank #15,698, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯lə]. meins is at rank #7,085, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [maɪ̯ns].

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 22783, this pair ranks #1,869,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Meile vs meins

Shared letters: eim. Private to "Meile": l. Private to "meins": ns.

"Meile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "meins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Meileemile · meiel · meille · melie · miele · mmeile
  • meinsemins · meinns · meinss · meisn · menis · miens · mmeins

Frequency comparison

Meile#15,698
meins#7,085

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Meile" and "meins" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Meile" is a noun and "meins" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Meile" or "meins"?
"meins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,085 in our German list, against #15,698 for "Meile". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Meile vs meins

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Meile”; for an unknown, it's “meins”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Meile” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list