Which to use
“mile” and “mode” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,682
- “mile” frequency rank
- #585
- “mode” frequency rank
- 16267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mile | mode |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unité de mesure de longueur anglo-saxonne, valant 1,760 yards (verges), soit 5,280 pieds, ou encore exactement 1 609,344 mètres. Son symbole est mi. | Manière de voir ou d’agir ; fantaisie. |
Where the eye mixes mile and mode
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mile with mode
A purely visual mix-up. mile (\majl\) and mode (\mɔd\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mile is recorded at frequency rank #15,682, classified as anoun, pronounced \majl\. mode is at rank #585, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔd\.
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 16267, this pair ranks #388,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mile vs mode
Shared letters: em. Private to "mile": il. Private to "mode": do.
"mile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mile" for "mode" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mile" vs "mode" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mode" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mile" and "mode" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mile vs mito". 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 #388,618 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.