miesvsmiesesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mies” and “mieses” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,597
“mies” frequency rank
#30,686
“mieses” frequency rank
39283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mies mieses
Definition auf verdrießlicher, ärgerlicher, ablehnender Art und Weise schlecht; wertlos, elend, übel Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mies

Where the eye mixes mies and mieses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mies runs 4 letters (CVVC) against mieses's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mies
6 ch
mieses

Look-alike desk: mies vs mieses

A purely visual mix-up. mies ([miːs]) and mieses ([ˈmiːzəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mies” sits inside “mieses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mies is recorded at frequency rank #8,597, classified as anadj, pronounced [miːs]. mieses is at rank #30,686, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmiːzəs].

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 39283, this pair ranks #1,541,026 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mies vs mieses

Shared letters: eims. Private to "mies": -. Private to "mieses": -.

"mies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mieses" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • miesimes · meis · miess · mise · mmies
  • miesesimeses · meises · mieess · miesess · miesses · misees · mmieses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mies" and "mieses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([miːs] versus [ˈmiːzəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mies" or "mieses"?
"mies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,597 in our German list, against #30,686 for "mieses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mieses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,541,026 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mies" and "mieses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mieses vs mietet". 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 #1,541,026 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