MildevsMinzeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,775
“Milde” frequency rank
#33,189
“Minze” frequency rank
42964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Milde Minze
Definition die Charaktereigenschaft der Sanftmut die Lippenblütlergattung Mentha (deutsch: Minzen), mit mehreren schwer zu unterscheidenden Arten

Where the eye mixes Milde and Minze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Milde
5 ch
Minze

Why the eye confuses Milde with Minze

A purely visual mix-up. Milde ([ˈmɪldə]) and Minze ([ˈmɪnt͡sə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42964, 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]. Minze is at rank #33,189, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɪnt͡sə].

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 42964, this pair ranks #1,432,883 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Milde vs Minze

Shared letters: eim. Private to "Milde": dl. Private to "Minze": nz.

"Milde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Minze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mildeimlde · midle · mildde · miled · millde · mlide · mmilde
  • Minzeimnze · minez · minnze · minzze · mizne · mminze · mnize

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Milde" and "Minze" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɪldə] versus [ˈmɪnt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Milde" vs "Minze" - which ranks higher?
"Milde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,775 in our German list, against #33,189 for "Minze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Milde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Minze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,432,883 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Milde" and "Minze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs Minze". 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 #1,432,883 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