meu vs mi, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#46
“meu” frequency rank: #3,342
“mi” frequency rank: 3388
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	meu	mi
Definition	de posse da primeira pessoa do singular (eu); pertencente a mim	mim

Where the eye mixes meu and mi

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

3 ch

meu

2 ch

Why the eye confuses meu with mi

A purely visual mix-up. meu (/ˈmew/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meu is recorded at frequency rank #46, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈmew/. 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 3388, this pair ranks #71,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of meu vs mi

Shared letters: m. Private to "meu": eu. Private to "mi": i.

"meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mi" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "meu" and "mi" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

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

"meu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46 in our Portuguese list, against #3,342 for "mi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "meu" and "mi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "meu" 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 #71,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"meu" and "mi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #71,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.