mi vs my, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mi” and “my” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29
“mi” frequency rank: #3,065
“my” frequency rank: 3094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mi	my
Definition	Adjetivo posesivo de la primera persona singular; de mí.	Mi, mío, de mí.

Where the eye mixes mi and my

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mi ([mi]) and my (/maɪ̯/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - i in “mi” becomes y in “my”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mi is recorded at frequency rank #29, classified as anadj, pronounced [mi]. my is at rank #3,065, tagged as anadj, pronounced /maɪ̯/.

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 3094, this pair ranks #319,038 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mi vs my

Shared letters: m. Private to "mi": i. Private to "my": y.

"mi" · 2 letters · shape CV · "my" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mi" and "my" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([mi] versus /maɪ̯/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "mi" or "my"?

"mi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29 in our Spanish list, against #3,065 for "my". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "mi" and "my". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "mi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "my" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #319,038 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"mi" and "my" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mur vs my". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.