mildesvsMindenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mildes is a adjective, Minden is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mildes” is an adjective and “Minden” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,457
“mildes” frequency rank
#9,776
“Minden” frequency rank
55233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mildes Minden
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mild eine Stadt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes mildes and Minden

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

6 ch
mildes
6 ch
Minden

Look-alike desk: mildes vs Minden

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mildes is [ˈmɪldəs] while Minden is [ˈmɪndn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mildes is recorded at frequency rank #45,457, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmɪldəs]. Minden is at rank #9,776, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈmɪndn̩].

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 55233, this pair ranks #987,498 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mildes vs Minden

Shared letters: deim. Private to "mildes": ls. Private to "Minden": n.

"mildes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Minden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mildesimldes · midles · milddes · mildess · mildse · mileds · milldes · mlides
  • Mindenimnden · midnen · mindden · mindenn · mindne · minedn · minnden · mminden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mildes" for "Minden" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mildes" is an adjective and "Minden" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mildes" or "Minden" show up more?
"Minden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,776 in our German list, against #45,457 for "mildes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mildes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Minden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #987,498 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mildes" and "Minden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mildes 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 #987,498 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