mild vs mildew, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mild” is an adjective and “mildew” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,982
“mild” frequency rank: #34,592
“mildew” frequency rank: 40574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mild	mildew
Definition	Gentle and not easily angered.	A growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mild and mildew apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

mild

6 ch

mildew

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mild is /ˈmaɪld/ while mildew is /ˈmɪl.djuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mild” sits inside “mildew”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mild is recorded at frequency rank #5,982, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmaɪld/. mildew is at rank #34,592, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɪl.djuː/.

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 40574, this pair ranks #266,321 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mild vs mildew

Shared letters: dilm. Private to "mild": -. Private to "mildew": ew.

"mild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mildew" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

mild ← imld · midl · mildd · milld · mlid · mmild
mildew ← imldew · midlew · milddew · mildeww · mildwe · miledw · milldew · mlidew

Frequency comparison

mild#5,982

mildew#34,592

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mild" and "mildew" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mild" is an adjective and "mildew" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "mild" or "mildew"?

"mild" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,982 in our English list, against #34,592 for "mildew". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mild vs mildew

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “mild”; for a noun, it's “mildew”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mild” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable