milevsmisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,680
“mile” frequency rank
#37,676
“mis” frequency rank
80356
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mile mis
Definition Meile rotes, leicht formbares Metall, das sich gut als Stromleiter eignet; Kupfer

Where the eye mixes mile and mis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mile
3 ch
mis

Look-alike desk: mile vs mis

A purely visual mix-up. mile ([maɪl]) and mis ([mis]) 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 80356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mile is recorded at frequency rank #42,680, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɪl]. mis is at rank #37,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mis].

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 80356, this pair ranks #197,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mile vs mis

Shared letters: im. Private to "mile": el. Private to "mis": s.

"mile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mileimle · miel · mlie · mmile

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mile" and "mis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([maɪl] versus [mis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mile" vs "mis" - which ranks higher?
"mis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,676 in our German list, against #42,680 for "mile". 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 "mile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #197,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mile" and "mis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mile 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 #197,297 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