Which to use
“Mai” is a noun and “mein” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,369
- “Mai” frequency rank
- #36,545
- “mein” frequency rank
- 45914
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mai | mein |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | maio | meu, minha, pronome possessivo da primeira pessoa do singular: |
Where the eye mixes Mai and mein
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Mai runs 3 letters (CVV) against mein's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Mai vs mein
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mai is /maɪ̯/ while mein is /maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Mai is recorded at frequency rank #9,369, classified as anoun, pronounced /maɪ̯/. mein is at rank #36,545, tagged as apron, pronounced /maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 45914, this pair ranks #19,470 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Mai vs mein
Shared letters: im. Private to "Mai": a. Private to "mein": en.
"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mein ← emin · meinn · meni · mmein
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Mai" and "mein" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Mai" vs "mein" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mein" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,470 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Mai" and "mein" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mein vs mens". 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 #19,470 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.