mei vs meu, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mei” is a pronoun and “meu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,446
“mei” frequency rank: #44,860
“meu” frequency rank: 73306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mei	meu
Definition	Forma del genitivo singular de egō.	Mi.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mei and meu apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

mei

3 ch

meu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mei is /ˈme.iː/ while meu is [ˈmew]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “mei” becomes u in “meu”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mei is recorded at frequency rank #28,446, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈme.iː/. meu is at rank #44,860, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmew].

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 73306, this pair ranks #23,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mei vs meu

Shared letters: em. Private to "mei": i. Private to "meu": u.

"mei" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

mei#28,446

meu#44,860

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mei" and "meu" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mei" is a pronoun and "meu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "mei" or "meu"?

"mei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,446 in our Spanish list, against #44,860 for "meu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mei vs meu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “mei”; for an adjective, it's “meu”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mei” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable