Which to use
“mild” is an adjective and “mills” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,330
- “mild” frequency rank
- #22,434
- “mills” frequency rank
- 40764
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mild | mills |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht stark im Geschmack | Plural des Substantivs mill |
Where the eye mixes mild and mills
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mild with mills
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mild is [mɪlt] while mills is [mɪlz]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mild is recorded at frequency rank #18,330, classified as anadj, pronounced [mɪlt]. 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 40764, this pair ranks #1,498,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mild vs mills
Shared letters: ilm. Private to "mild": d. Private to "mills": s.
"mild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mild" and "mills" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mild" vs "mills" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mild" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mills" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,498,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mild" and "mills" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Milfs vs mills". 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 #1,498,990 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.