maevsmieWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#17,199
“mae” frequency rank
#43,709
“mie” frequency rank
60908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mae mie
Definition Tratamiento coloquial y general para personas, especialmente jóvenes del sexo masculino. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de miar.

Where the eye mixes mae and mie

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

3 ch
mae
3 ch
mie

Look-alike desk: mae vs mie

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mae is [ˈmae] while mie is [ˈmje]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “mae” becomes i in “mie”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mae is recorded at frequency rank #17,199, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmae]. mie is at rank #43,709, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmje].

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 60908, this pair ranks #57,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mae vs mie

Shared letters: em. Private to "mae": a. Private to "mie": i.

"mae" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mie" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mae" and "mie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mae" is a noun and "mie" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mae" vs "mie" - which ranks higher?
"mae" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,199 in our Spanish list, against #43,709 for "mie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "mae" and "mie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mae" and "mie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mie vs mur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #57,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list