my

/maɪ/

//maɪ// det

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"my" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“my” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #27 in English word frequency and used as a determiner.

#27
frequency rank, English
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

my vs Mya
33% similar
my vs myth
50% similar
my vs Myra
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for my
PropertyValue
Headwordmy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechDeterminer
IPA/maɪ/
Letters2
Frequency rank#27
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “my” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). my lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for my is 2 letters long, classified as a determiner, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /maɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #27 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for my in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Mya", "myth", "Myra", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”). Cognate with … The correct English form is my, spelled M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
  2. 2
    First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
  3. 3
    First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
  4. 4
    First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.

Etymology

From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”). Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.

This word in other languages

mi(Español)mon(Français)mein(Deutsch)meu(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "my"?
"my" is spelled M-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /maɪ/.
What does "my" mean?
As a determiner, "my" means: First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
What words are commonly confused with "my"?
"my" is commonly confused with "Mya", "myth", "Myra". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "my"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "my" is /maɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "my"?
From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”). Cog... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “my”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /maɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “Mya” - see the side-by-side comparison. my vs Mya
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list