meinvsmimTell them apart

Quick tell: mein is a pronoun, mim is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mein” is a pronoun and “mim” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#117
“mein” frequency rank
#37,673
“mim” frequency rank
37790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mein mim
Definition zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu sich selbst an 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mimen

Where the eye mixes mein and mim

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mein
3 ch
mim

Look-alike desk: mein vs mim

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mein is [maɪ̯n] while mim is [miːm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mein is recorded at frequency rank #117, classified as apron, pronounced [maɪ̯n]. mim is at rank #37,673, tagged as averb, pronounced [miːm].

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 37790, this pair ranks #1,580,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mein vs mim

Shared letters: im. Private to "mein": en. Private to "mim": -.

"mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mim" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meinemin · meinn · meni · mien · mmein

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mein" for "mim" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mein" is a pronoun and "mim" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mein" vs "mim" - which ranks higher?
"mein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #117 in our German list, against #37,673 for "mim". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mein" and "mim" 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 "mim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,580,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mein" and "mim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mim vs mme". 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 #1,580,991 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