Which to use
“Mulder” is a name and “mules” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,573
- “Mulder” frequency rank
- #25,146
- “mules” frequency rank
- 52719
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mulder | mules |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname from Dutch, equivalent to English Miller. | plural of mule |
Where the eye mixes Mulder and mules
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Mulder runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mules's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Mulder vs mules
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mulder is /ˈmʌl.də(ɹ)/ while mules is /mjuːlz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Mulder is recorded at frequency rank #27,573, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈmʌl.də(ɹ)/. mules is at rank #25,146, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mjuːlz/.
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 52719, this pair ranks #154,772 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Mulder vs mules
Shared letters: elmu. Private to "Mulder": dr. Private to "mules": s.
"Mulder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mules" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Mulder" for "mules" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "Mulder" or "mules" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Mulder" and "mules" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Mulder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #154,772 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Mulder" and "mules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "madder vs Mulder". 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 #154,772 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.