Which to use
“million” is a num and “millionth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #469
- “million” frequency rank
- #36,251
- “millionth” frequency rank
- 36720
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | million | millionth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The cardinal number 1 000 000: 10⁶; a thousand thousand. | The ordinal form of the number one million. |
Where the eye mixes million and millionth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. million runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against millionth's 9 (CVCCVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses million with millionth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: million is /ˈmɪl.jən/ while millionth is /ˈmɪljənθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “million” sits inside “millionth”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
million is recorded at frequency rank #469, classified as anum, pronounced /ˈmɪl.jən/. millionth is at rank #36,251, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɪljənθ/.
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 36720, this pair ranks #300,747 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of million vs millionth
Shared letters: ilmno. Private to "million": -. Private to "millionth": ht.
"million" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "millionth" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "million" for "millionth" ever safe?
Which is more common, "million" or "millionth"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "million" and "millionth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "million" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "millionth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,747 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "million" and "millionth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Milliken vs million". 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 #300,747 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.