English homophones
mil/mill
"mill" (#3,769 written frequency) beats "mil" (#10,579) in this 2-word /mɪl/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /mɪl/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "mill" leads at #3,769, with "mil" trailing at #10,579.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "mil" then splits - "mil" (3 letters) vs "mill" (4).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across mil, mill: ilm. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
mil
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ilm · no private letters vs siblings
mill
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory ilm · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "mil" when you mean: An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98…
- Write "mill" when you mean: A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.)
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- mill ← imll · mlil · mmill
Each spelling
noun · /mɪl/ · #10,579 frequency
An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also ¹⁄₆₀₀₀ and ¹⁄₆₃₀₀ are used in other countries.
noun · /mɪl/ · #3,769 frequency
A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.)
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (mil, mill). Here's where to go from here.
- "mill" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #3,769 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: McIntosh · mackintosh. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "mil, mill" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.