Which to use
“micro” is an adjective and “mire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,268
- “micro” frequency rank
- #39,914
- “mire” frequency rank
- 46182
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | micro | mire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Small, relatively small; used to contrast levels of the noun modified. | Deep mud; moist, spongy earth. |
Where the eye mixes micro and mire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between micro and mire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: micro is /ˈmaɪ.kɹoʊ/ while mire is /ˈmaɪə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
micro is recorded at frequency rank #6,268, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmaɪ.kɹoʊ/. mire is at rank #39,914, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɪə/.
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 46182, this pair ranks #214,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of micro vs mire
Shared letters: imr. Private to "micro": co. Private to "mire": e.
"micro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "micro" and "mire" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "micro" or "mire" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "micro" and "mire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "micro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "micro" and "mire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mire vs miser". 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 #214,165 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.