Which to use
“mein” is a pronoun and “melk” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #117
- “mein” frequency rank
- #41,987
- “melk” frequency rank
- 42104
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mein | melk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu sich selbst an | Milch gebend |
Where the eye mixes mein and melk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mein and melk
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mein is [maɪ̯n] while melk is [mɛlk]. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mein is recorded at frequency rank #117, classified as apron, pronounced [maɪ̯n]. melk is at rank #41,987, tagged as anadj, pronounced [mɛlk].
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 42104, this pair ranks #1,459,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mein vs melk
Shared letters: em. Private to "mein": in. Private to "melk": kl.
"mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "melk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mein" and "melk" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mein" vs "melk" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mein" and "melk" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "melk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,459,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mein" and "melk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs melk". 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 #1,459,453 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.