melvsmilkConfusable pair

Which to use

“mel” and “milk” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,843
“mel” frequency rank
#16,117
“milk” frequency rank
18960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mel milk
Definition substância doce, espessa e viscosa elaborada pelas abelhas nas colmeias leite

Letter map: mel vs milk

Shared letters muted; letters that set mel and milk apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
mel
4 ch
milk

Pair insight - mel / milk

mel and milk are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mel is recorded at frequency rank #2,843, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛɫ/. milk is at rank #16,117, tagged as anoun.

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 18960, this pair ranks #51,908 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mel vs milk

Shared letters: lm. Private to "mel": e. Private to "milk": ik.

"mel" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "milk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • milkimlk · mikl · milkk · millk · mlik · mmilk

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mel" and "milk" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "mel" or "milk"?
"mel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,843 in our Portuguese list, against #16,117 for "milk". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mel" and "milk".

  • Full dictionary entry for "mel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "milk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,908 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mel" and "milk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "milk vs Mist". 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 #51,908 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list