Which to use
“mail” and “mil” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,952
- “mail” frequency rank
- #10,579
- “mil” frequency rank
- 12531
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mil | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A bag or wallet. | 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. |
Where the eye mixes mail and mil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mail with mil
A purely visual mix-up. mail (/meɪl/) and mil (/mɪl/) 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 12531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mail is recorded at frequency rank #1,952, classified as anoun, pronounced /meɪl/. mil is at rank #10,579, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɪl/.
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 12531, this pair ranks #481,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mail vs mil
Shared letters: ilm. Private to "mail": a. Private to "mil": -.
"mail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mil" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mail ← amil · maill · mial · mmail
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mail" for "mil" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mail" or "mil"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #481,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mail" and "mil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mil vs MMP". 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 #481,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.