mule
/mjuːl/
"mule" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mule” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #16,279. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #16,279
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The generally sterile male or female hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mule · mule · English
mule · rank #16,279 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #16,279
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH mythical
Nearest frequency peer: mythical (+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 neighbourhood for “mule”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- mania
mania
83,725 corpus weight
- medically
medically
83,724 corpus weight
- mule
mule
83,722 corpus weight
- mythical
mythical
83,721 corpus weight
- Nathaniel
Nathaniel
83,720 corpus weight
- neutron
neutron
83,719 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “mule” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mule |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mjuːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #16,279 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mule” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around mule (IPA /mjuːl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #16,279 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for mule, with forms such as "mlue", "mmule", and "muel". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mum", "mun", "must", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mule, from Anglo-Norman mule and Old English mūl, both from Latin mūlus, from Proto-Indo-European *mukslós. Compare Late Latin muscellus (“young he-mule”), Old East Slavic мъшкъ (mŭškŭ, “mule”), Ancient Greek (Phocian) μυχλός (mukhlós, “… The correct English form is mule, spelled M-U-L-E.
Definition
- 1The generally sterile male or female hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.
- 2The generally sterile hybrid offspring of any two species of animals.
- 3A hybrid plant.
- 4A stubborn person.
- 5A person paid to smuggle drugs.
- 6A coin or medal minted with obverse and reverse designs not normally seen on the same piece, either intentionally or in error.
- 7A MMORPG character, or NPC companion in a tabletop RPG, used mainly to store extra inventory for the owner's primary character.
- 8Any of a group of cocktails involving ginger ale or ginger beer, citrus juice, and various liquors.
- 9A kind of triangular sail for a yacht.
- 10A kind of cotton-spinning machine.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mule appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
One day he ran into a herd of a half dozen elk, so he rode his mule down the canyon three or four miles, leaving the sheep alone.
It would be exceedingly interesting to know if the hybrid would reproduce, a matter I deem exceedingly doubtful, for the chances are it would prove a "mule" (infertile).
Etymology
From Middle English mule, from Anglo-Norman mule and Old English mūl, both from Latin mūlus, from Proto-Indo-European *mukslós. Compare Late Latin muscellus (“young he-mule”), Old East Slavic мъшкъ (mŭškŭ, “mule”), Ancient Greek (Phocian) μυχλός (mukhlós, “he-ass”), and German Maul Maultier, Maulesel (through Latin).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- mlue
- mmule
- muel
- mulle
- umle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mule - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mule", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "mule". Here's where to go from here.
- "mule" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "mum". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #16,279 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.