mailsvsmlsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mails” and “mls” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,725
“mails” frequency rank
#24,677
“mls” frequency rank
32402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mails mls
Definition Pluriel de mail. Friandise, gourmandise, chose bonne à manger.

Where the eye mixes mails and mls

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

5 ch
mails
3 ch
mls

Visual trap between mails and mls

A purely visual mix-up. mails (\maj\) and mls (\ml̩s\) 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 32402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mails is recorded at frequency rank #7,725, classified as anoun, pronounced \maj\. mls is at rank #24,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ml̩s\.

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 32402, this pair ranks #297,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mails vs mls

Shared letters: lms. Private to "mails": ai. Private to "mls": -.

"mails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "mls" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mailsamils · maills · mailss · maisl · malis · mials · mmails

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mails" for "mls" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\maj\ versus \ml̩s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mails" vs "mls" - which ranks higher?
"mails" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,725 in our French list, against #24,677 for "mls". 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 "mails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #297,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mails" and "mls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mls vs MWh". 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 #297,536 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list