Which to use
“mire” and “mirth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,914
- “mire” frequency rank
- #46,070
- “mirth” frequency rank
- 85984
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mire | mirth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deep mud; moist, spongy earth. | The emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter. |
Where the eye mixes mire and mirth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mire runs 4 letters (CVCV) against mirth's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mire and mirth
A purely visual mix-up. mire (/ˈmaɪə/) and mirth (/mɜɹθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mire is recorded at frequency rank #39,914, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɪə/. mirth is at rank #46,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɜɹθ/.
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 85984, this pair ranks #9,582 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mire vs mirth
Shared letters: imr. Private to "mire": e. Private to "mirth": ht.
"mire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mirth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mire" for "mirth" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mire" or "mirth"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mirth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,582 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mire" and "mirth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mirth vs myrrh". 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 #9,582 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.