miesvsmigWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mies is a adjective, mig is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mies” is an adjective and “mig” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,597
“mies” frequency rank
#37,671
“mig” frequency rank
46268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mies mig
Definition auf verdrießlicher, ärgerlicher, ablehnender Art und Weise schlecht; wertlos, elend, übel Akkusativ des Personalpronomens jeg

Where the eye mixes mies and mig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mies
3 ch
mig

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mies is [miːs] while mig is [ˈmɑj]. 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 (adjective vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46268, 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]. mig is at rank #37,671, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈmɑj].

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 46268, this pair ranks #1,324,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mies vs mig

Shared letters: im. Private to "mies": es. Private to "mig": g.

"mies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mig" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • miesimes · meis · miess · mise · mmies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mies" and "mig" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mies" is an adjective and "mig" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mies" or "mig"?
"mies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,597 in our German list, against #37,671 for "mig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "mies" and "mig". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,324,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mies" and "mig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mig vs mme". 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