MinenvsmissenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Minen is a noun, missen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Minen” is a noun and “missen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,435
“Minen” frequency rank
#21,697
“missen” frequency rank
37132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Minen missen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Mine etwas entbehren

Where the eye mixes Minen and missen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Minen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against missen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Minen
6 ch
missen

Why the eye confuses Minen with missen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Minen is [ˈmiːnən] while missen is [ˈmɪsn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Minen is recorded at frequency rank #15,435, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmiːnən]. missen is at rank #21,697, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɪsn̩].

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 37132, this pair ranks #1,598,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Minen vs missen

Shared letters: eimn. Private to "Minen": -. Private to "missen": s.

"Minen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "missen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Minen ← imnen · mienn · minenn · minnen · mminen · mnien
  • missen ← imssen · misen · misesn · missenn · missne · mißen · mmissen · msisen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Minen" and "missen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Minen" is a noun and "missen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Minen" or "missen"?
"Minen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,435 in our German list, against #21,697 for "missen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Minen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "missen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,598,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Minen" and "missen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen vs missen". 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 #1,598,024 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