meinvsmiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,545
“mein” frequency rank
#3,342
“mi” frequency rank
39887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mein mi
Definition meu, minha, pronome possessivo da primeira pessoa do singular: mim

Where the eye mixes mein and mi

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

4 ch
mein
2 ch
mi

Look-alike desk: mein vs mi

A purely visual mix-up. mein (/maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and mi (/ˈmi/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39887, 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 ?). mi is at rank #3,342, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈmi/.

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 39887, this pair ranks #26,295 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mein vs mi

Shared letters: im. Private to "mein": en. Private to "mi": -.

"mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mi" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meinemin · meinn · meni · mmein

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mein" and "mi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /ˈmi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mein" vs "mi" - which ranks higher?
"mi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,342 in our Portuguese list, against #36,545 for "mein". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "mein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,295 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mein" and "mi" 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 #26,295 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