Which to use
“melken” is a verb and “milden” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,412
- “melken” frequency rank
- #17,988
- “milden” frequency rank
- 45400
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melken | milden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Milch vom Milchvieh gewinnen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mild |
Where the eye mixes melken and milden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between melken and milden
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: melken is [ˈmɛlkn̩] while milden is [ˈmɪldn̩]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
melken is recorded at frequency rank #27,412, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmɛlkn̩]. milden is at rank #17,988, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmɪldn̩].
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 45400, this pair ranks #1,354,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melken vs milden
Shared letters: elmn. Private to "melken": k. Private to "milden": di.
"melken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "milden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "melken" and "milden" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "melken" or "milden"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "melken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "milden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,354,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melken" and "milden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melken vs Milben". 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 #1,354,322 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.