mil

/mɪl/

//mɪl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"mil" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mil” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #10,579) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#10,579
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also ¹⁄₆₀₀₀ and ¹⁄₆₃₀₀ are used in other countries.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mil · mil · English

mil · rank #10,579 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,579
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH mit

Nearest frequency peer: mit (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “mil”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “mil” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mil vs my
33% similar
mil vs Mr
0% similar
mil vs MS
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mil
PropertyValue
Headwordmil
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/mɪl/
Letters3
Frequency rank#10,579
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “mil”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).millands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “mit” (#10,580), “Medicaid” (#10,577), “Newark” (#10,581). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mil” is #10,579. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mil is neighbouring look-alikes ("my", "Mr", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /mɪl/. Frequency #10,579 among 4,057 “M” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

mil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "my", "Mr", "MS", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Ultimately from Latin millesimum. The clippings come by way of the clipped words (e.g., millilitre, millimetre, milliradian). The correct English form is mil, spelled M-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also ¹⁄₆₀₀₀ and ¹⁄₆₃₀₀ are used in other countries.
  2. 2
    A unit of measurement equal to ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch (25.4 µm), usually used for thin objects, such as sheets of plastic.
  3. 3
    A former subdivision (¹⁄₁₀₀₀) of the Maltese lira.
  4. 4
    Clipping of milliliter.
  5. 5
    Clipping of millimeter.
  6. 6
    Clipping of milliradian.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how mil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. For this task, I prefer the plastic sheeting that is 10 mils thick.
  2. If made of plastic, is minimum of at least 2.25 mils (thousandths of an inch) thick.

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin millesimum. The clippings come by way of the clipped words (e.g., millilitre, millimetre, milliradian).

This word in other languages

millième(Français)Strich(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mil"?
"mil" is spelled M-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is /mɪl/.
What does "mil" mean?
As a noun, "mil" means: An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also ¹⁄₆₀₀₀ and ¹⁄₆₃₀₀ are used in other countries.
What words are commonly confused with "mil"?
"mil" is commonly confused with "my", "Mr", "MS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mil" is /mɪl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "mil"?
Ultimately from Latin millesimum. The clippings come by way of the clipped words (e.g., millilitre, millimetre, milliradian). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mil", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mit#10,580nod#10,582Liu#10,575HBO#10,553

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list