Which to use
“mild” is an adjective and “mill” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,982
- “mild” frequency rank
- #3,769
- “mill” frequency rank
- 9751
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mild | mill |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gentle and not easily angered. | A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.) |
Where the eye mixes mild and mill
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mild is /ˈmaɪld/ while mill is /mɪl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “mild” becomes l in “mill”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9751, 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/. mill is at rank #3,769, 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 9751, this pair ranks #495,789 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mild vs mill
Shared letters: ilm. Private to "mild": d. Private to "mill": -.
"mild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mill" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mild" and "mill" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mild" or "mill"?
What to do next
You've compared "mild" and "mill". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "mild" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #495,789 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mild" and "mill" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mela vs mild". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.