meinvsmoiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#36,545
“mein” frequency rank
#20,946
“moi” frequency rank
57491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mein moi
Definition meu, minha, pronome possessivo da primeira pessoa do singular: mim, eu, pronome pessoal tónico da primeira pessoa do singular:

Where the eye mixes mein and moi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mein runs 4 letters (CVVC) against moi's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mein
3 ch
moi

Look-alike desk: mein vs moi

A purely visual mix-up. mein (/maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and moi (/mwa/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57491, 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 ?). moi is at rank #20,946, tagged as apron, pronounced /mwa/.

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 57491, this pair ranks #9,303 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mein vs moi

Shared letters: im. Private to "mein": en. Private to "moi": o.

"mein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "moi" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meinemin · meinn · meni · mmein

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mein" for "moi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/maɪ̯n/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /mwa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mein" or "moi"?
"moi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,946 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.

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 "moi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,303 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mein" and "moi" 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 #9,303 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