meinvsmemoTell them apart

Quick tell: mein is a pronoun, memo is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mein” is a pronoun and “memo” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,545
“mein” frequency rank
#35,681
“memo” frequency rank
72226
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mein memo
Definition meu, minha, pronome possessivo da primeira pessoa do singular: mesmo

Letter map: mein vs memo

Shared letters muted; letters that set mein and memo apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. mein (CVVC) and memo (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
mein
4 ch
memo

Grammar separator: mein vs memo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mein is apronoun and memoanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mein is recorded at frequency rank #36,545, classified as apron, pronounced /maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?). memo is at rank #35,681, tagged as anadv.

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 72226, this pair ranks #3,124 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mein vs memo

Shared letters: em. Private to "mein": in. Private to "memo": o.

"mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "memo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mein ← emin · meinn · meni · mmein
  • memo ← emmo · memmo · meom · mmemo · mmeo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mein" for "memo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mein" is a pronoun and "memo" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mein" or "memo"?
"memo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,681 in our Portuguese list, against #36,545 for "mein". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mein" and "memo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "mein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "memo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,124 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mein" and "memo" 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 #3,124 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list