Which to use
“mates” and “miles” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,248
- “mates” frequency rank
- #1,090
- “miles” frequency rank
- 8338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mates | miles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of mate | plural of mile |
Where the eye mixes mates and miles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. mates (/meɪts/) and miles (/maɪlz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mates is recorded at frequency rank #7,248, classified as anoun, pronounced /meɪts/. miles is at rank #1,090, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maɪlz/.
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 8338, this pair ranks #503,007 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mates vs miles
Shared letters: ems. Private to "mates": at. Private to "miles": il.
"mates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "miles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC