mallevsmillsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: malle is a verb, mills is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“malle” is a verb and “mills” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,674
“malle” frequency rank
#22,434
“mills” frequency rank
54108
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malle mills
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs mallen Plural des Substantivs mill

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set malle and mills apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
malle
5 ch
mills

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: malle is [ˈmalə] while mills is [mɪlz]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malle is recorded at frequency rank #31,674, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmalə]. mills is at rank #22,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɪlz].

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 54108, this pair ranks #1,031,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of malle vs mills

Shared letters: lm. Private to "malle": ae. Private to "mills": is.

"malle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malleamlle · malel · mlale · mmalle
  • millsimlls · millss · mils · milsl · mlils · mmills

Frequency comparison

malle#31,674
mills#22,434

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "malle" and "mills" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "malle" is a verb and "mills" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "malle" or "mills"?
"mills" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,434 in our German list, against #31,674 for "malle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering malle vs mills

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “malle”; for a noun, it's “mills”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “malle” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list