meinvsmoinWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mein is a pronoun, moin is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#117
“mein” frequency rank
#8,599
“moin” frequency rank
8716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mein moin
Definition zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu sich selbst an norddeutscher Gruß

Where the eye mixes mein and moin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mein
4 ch
moin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mein is [maɪ̯n] while moin is [mɔɪ̯n]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “mein” becomes o in “moin”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mein is recorded at frequency rank #117, classified as apron, pronounced [maɪ̯n]. moin is at rank #8,599, tagged as anintj, pronounced [mɔɪ̯n].

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 8716, this pair ranks #1,983,132 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mein vs moin

Shared letters: imn. Private to "mein": e. Private to "moin": o.

"mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "moin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meinemin · meinn · meni · mien · mmein
  • moinmion · mmoin · moinn · moni · omin

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mein" and "moin" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mein" is a pronoun and "moin" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mein" or "moin"?
"mein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #117 in our German list, against #8,599 for "moin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "mein" and "moin". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,983,132 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mein" and "moin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moin vs mora". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list