milvsmóvilWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mil” and “móvil” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#379
“mil” frequency rank
#1,824
“móvil” frequency rank
2203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mil móvil
Definition Diez veces ciento. Que puede moverse o ser movido.

Where the eye mixes mil and móvil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
mil
5 ch
móvil

Why the eye confuses mil with móvil

A purely visual mix-up. mil ([ˈmil]) and móvil ([ˈmoβ̞il]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mil is recorded at frequency rank #379, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmil]. móvil is at rank #1,824, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmoβ̞il].

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 2203, this pair ranks #320,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mil vs móvil

Shared letters: ilm. Private to "mil": -. Private to "móvil": .

"mil" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "móvil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mil" for "móvil" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmil] versus [ˈmoβ̞il]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mil" or "móvil"?
"mil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #379 in our Spanish list, against #1,824 for "móvil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "móvil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #320,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mil" and "móvil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modal vs móvil". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #320,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list