Which to use
“Meile” is a noun and “Melle” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,698
- “Meile” frequency rank
- #37,077
- “Melle” frequency rank
- 52775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Meile | Melle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Längenmaß in der Größenordnung von 1 bis 11 Kilometer, früher in Deutschland und Österreich etwa 7,5 Kilometer entsprechend, noch heute offiziell im Vereinigten Königreich und in den Vereinigten Staaten (1,609 Kilometer) sowie inoffiziell noch in Norwegen und Schweden (10 Kilometer) | eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland |
Where the eye mixes Meile and Melle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Meile (CVVCV) and Melle (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between Meile and Melle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Meile is [ˈmaɪ̯lə] while Melle is [ˈmɛlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “Meile” becomes l in “Melle”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Meile is recorded at frequency rank #15,698, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯lə]. Melle is at rank #37,077, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈmɛlə].
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 52775, this pair ranks #1,083,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Meile vs Melle
Shared letters: elm. Private to "Meile": i. Private to "Melle": -.
"Meile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "Melle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Meile" for "Melle" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Meile" or "Melle" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Meile" and "Melle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Meile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Melle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,083,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Meile" and "Melle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Melle vs Mette". 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 #1,083,744 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.