Which to use
“mild” is an adjective and “misled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,982
- “mild” frequency rank
- #20,170
- “misled” frequency rank
- 26152
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mild | misled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gentle and not easily angered. | simple past and past participle of mislead |
Where the eye mixes mild and misled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mild and misled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mild is /ˈmaɪld/ while misled is /ˌmɪsˈlɛd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26152, 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/. misled is at rank #20,170, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˌmɪsˈlɛd/.
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 26152, this pair ranks #388,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mild vs misled
Shared letters: dilm. Private to "mild": -. Private to "misled": es.
"mild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "misled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mild" and "misled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "mild" or "misled" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mild" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "misled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mild" and "misled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "misled vs Moslem". 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 #388,809 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.