Which to use
“meinen” is a verb and “meiner” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #280
- “meinen” frequency rank
- #252
- “meiner” frequency rank
- 532
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meinen | meiner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einen bestimmten Standpunkt oder eine bestimmte Meinung vertreten | 1. Person Singular Genitiv des Personalpronomens ich |
Where the eye mixes meinen and meiner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between meinen and meiner
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meinen is [ˈmaɪ̯nən] while meiner is [ˈmaɪ̯nɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “meinen” becomes r in “meiner”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meinen is recorded at frequency rank #280, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯nən]. meiner is at rank #252, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯nɐ].
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 532, this pair ranks #2,005,725 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of meinen vs meiner
Shared letters: eimn. Private to "meinen": -. Private to "meiner": r.
"meinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "meiner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meinen" for "meiner" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "meinen" or "meiner" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "meinen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meiner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,005,725 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meinen" and "meiner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailen vs meinen". 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 #2,005,725 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.