millsvsmisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,434
“mills” frequency rank
#37,676
“mis” frequency rank
60110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mills mis
Definition Plural des Substantivs mill rotes, leicht formbares Metall, das sich gut als Stromleiter eignet; Kupfer

Where the eye mixes mills and mis

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

5 ch
mills
3 ch
mis

Look-alike desk: mills vs mis

A purely visual mix-up. mills ([mɪlz]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mills is recorded at frequency rank #22,434, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɪlz]. 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 60110, this pair ranks #799,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mills vs mis

Shared letters: ims. Private to "mills": l. Private to "mis": -.

"mills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "mis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • millsimlls · millss · mils · milsl · mlils · mmills

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mills" and "mis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mɪlz] versus [mis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mills" or "mis"?
"mills" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,434 in our German list, against #37,676 for "mis". 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 "mills" 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 #799,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mills" and "mis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Milfs vs mis". 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 #799,189 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