Short answer
Yes. As long as both wallets follow BIP-39 + BIP-44, the same mnemonic can be imported into either. MetaMask, Trust Wallet, OKX Web3 wallet, Ledger, Trezor — most major wallets are mutually compatible. Three exceptions: derivation paths may differ ("imported but balance shows zero"), some chains use different elliptic curves, and some early wallets used custom non-standard schemes.
The mnemonic is universal raw material. The derivation path is not always universal.
Why path differences matter
After the mnemonic enters a wallet, it passes through PBKDF2 to derive a 512-bit seed, then BIP-32 derives child private keys. The catch is at the BIP-32 step — the derivation path is wallet-chosen, and different wallets may take different branches.
Example: BIP-44 specifies Ethereum as m/44'/60'/0'/0/index. MetaMask follows this strictly. But some early Ethereum wallets used m/44'/60'/account'/0/0 for easier multi-account switching — putting each account in a separately hardened branch. The same mnemonic shows completely different addresses in the two wallets at slot 2.
The Solana case
Phantom uses m/44'/501'/0'/0'. Ledger Live's default is m/44'/501'/0'. The same mnemonic imported into both shows different first-account addresses. A user expecting their Phantom funds in Ledger Live sees zero balance and panics. The fix is selecting "Ledger Live legacy path" or matching paths manually.
The elliptic-curve problem
Bitcoin and Ethereum use secp256k1. Cardano uses ed25519 with a different derivation scheme (Icarus). Solana, Cosmos, Polkadot all use ed25519 but with different conventions. Even with a "compatible" BIP-39 mnemonic, importing into a Cardano wallet requires the wallet to handle the curve conversion correctly.
Practical recipe
Before relying on cross-wallet import, do a small test: load $5 of the relevant asset, import into the second wallet, verify the balance appears. If it doesn't, check the derivation path. Sparrow Wallet's "Show in" feature is excellent for scanning multiple paths automatically on Bitcoin.
Further reading: Derivation path, BIP-44.