MildevsmildernWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#9,775
“Milde” frequency rank
#40,702
“mildern” frequency rank
50477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Milde mildern
Definition die Charaktereigenschaft der Sanftmut etwas in dessen (negativer) Wirkung abschwächen

Where the eye mixes Milde and mildern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Milde
7 ch
mildern

Why the eye confuses Milde with mildern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Milde is [ˈmɪldə] while mildern is [ˈmɪldɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Milde” sits inside “mildern”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Milde is recorded at frequency rank #9,775, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɪldə]. mildern is at rank #40,702, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmɪldɐn].

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 50477, this pair ranks #1,172,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Milde vs mildern

Shared letters: deilm. Private to "Milde": -. Private to "mildern": nr.

"Milde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mildern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mildeimlde · midle · mildde · miled · millde · mlide · mmilde
  • mildernimldern · midlern · milddern · mildenr · mildernn · milderrn · mildren · miledrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Milde" and "mildern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Milde" is a noun and "mildern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Milde" vs "mildern" - which ranks higher?
"Milde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,775 in our German list, against #40,702 for "mildern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Milde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mildern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,172,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Milde" and "mildern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Milben vs mildern". 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 #1,172,243 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