Which to use
“meines” is an unknown and “Minus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,137
- “meines” frequency rank
- #6,089
- “Minus” frequency rank
- 7226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meines | Minus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Possessivpronomens mein | Fehlendes bei einer Abrechnung |
Where the eye mixes meines and Minus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. meines runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against Minus's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses meines with Minus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meines is [ˈmaɪ̯nəs] while Minus is [ˈmiːnʊs]. 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 (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meines is recorded at frequency rank #1,137, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯nəs]. Minus is at rank #6,089, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmiːnʊs].
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 7226, this pair ranks #1,988,946 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of meines vs Minus
Shared letters: imns. Private to "meines": e. Private to "Minus": u.
"meines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "Minus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meines" for "Minus" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "meines" or "Minus" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "meines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Minus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,988,946 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meines" and "Minus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Milfs vs Minus". 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 #1,988,946 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.