mildenvsmüdenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,988
“milden” frequency rank
#27,858
“müden” frequency rank
45846
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature milden müden
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mild Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs müde

Where the eye mixes milden and müden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
milden
5 ch
müden

Why the eye confuses milden with müden

A purely visual mix-up. milden ([ˈmɪldn̩]) and müden ([ˈmyːdn̩]) 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 45846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

milden is recorded at frequency rank #17,988, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmɪldn̩]. müden is at rank #27,858, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmyːdn̩].

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 45846, this pair ranks #1,339,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of milden vs müden

Shared letters: demn. Private to "milden": il. Private to "müden": ü.

"milden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "müden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mildenimlden · midlen · mildden · mildenn · mildne · miledn · millden · mliden

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "milden" and "müden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɪldn̩] versus [ˈmyːdn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "milden" or "müden"?
"milden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,988 in our German list, against #27,858 for "müden". 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 "milden" and "müden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "milden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "müden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,339,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "milden" and "müden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen vs müden". 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 #1,339,256 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