miesvsmimWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mies is a adjective, mim is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#8,597
“mies” frequency rank
#37,673
“mim” frequency rank
46270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mies mim
Definition auf verdrießlicher, ärgerlicher, ablehnender Art und Weise schlecht; wertlos, elend, übel 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mimen

Where the eye mixes mies and mim

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

4 ch
mies
3 ch
mim

Look-alike desk: mies vs mim

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mies is [miːs] while mim is [miːm]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46270, 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]. mim is at rank #37,673, tagged as averb, pronounced [miːm].

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 46270, this pair ranks #1,324,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mies vs mim

Shared letters: im. Private to "mies": es. Private to "mim": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • miesimes · meis · miess · mise · mmies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mies" and "mim" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mies" is an adjective and "mim" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mies" vs "mim" - which ranks higher?
"mies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,597 in our German list, against #37,673 for "mim". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,324,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mies" and "mim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mim 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

Confusion rank #1,324,911 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