milanvsmileWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“milan” and “mile” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,945
“milan” frequency rank
#42,680
“mile” frequency rank
58625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature milan mile
Definition die Gabelweihe Meile

Where the eye mixes milan and mile

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. milan runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against mile's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
milan
4 ch
mile

Why the eye confuses milan with mile

A purely visual mix-up. milan ([mi.lɑ̃]) and mile ([maɪl]) 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 58625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

milan is recorded at frequency rank #15,945, classified as anoun, pronounced [mi.lɑ̃]. mile is at rank #42,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maɪl].

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 58625, this pair ranks #855,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of milan vs mile

Shared letters: ilm. Private to "milan": an. Private to "mile": e.

"milan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • milan ← imlan · mialn · milann · millan · milna · mlian · mmilan
  • mile ← imle · miel · mlie · mmile

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "milan" for "mile" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([mi.lɑ̃] versus [maɪl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "milan" vs "mile" - which ranks higher?
"milan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,945 in our German list, against #42,680 for "mile". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "milan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #855,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "milan" and "mile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mile vs Milfs". 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 #855,568 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list