meinsvsMonsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: meins is a unknown, Mons is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“meins” is an unknown and “Mons” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,085
“meins” frequency rank
#41,351
“Mons” frequency rank
48436
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meins Mons
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum bei nicht attributivem Gebrauch des Possessivpronomens mein belgische Stadt im Hennegau

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meins and Mons apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
meins
4 ch
Mons

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meins is [maɪ̯ns] while Mons is [mɔ̃ːs]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meins is recorded at frequency rank #7,085, classified as anunknown, pronounced [maɪ̯ns]. Mons is at rank #41,351, tagged as aname, pronounced [mɔ̃ːs].

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 48436, this pair ranks #1,248,661 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meins vs Mons

Shared letters: mns. Private to "meins": ei. Private to "Mons": o.

"meins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Mons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meinsemins · meinns · meinss · meisn · menis · miens · mmeins
  • Monsmmons · mnos · monns · monss · mosn · omns

Frequency comparison

meins#7,085
Mons#41,351

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meins" and "Mons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meins" is an unknown and "Mons" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "meins" or "Mons"?
"meins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,085 in our German list, against #41,351 for "Mons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering meins vs Mons

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an unknown, it's “meins”; for a name, it's “Mons”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “meins” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list