The centimetre is a unit of length and is a multiple of the metre; an SI derived unit. It has the symbol cm.
A centimetre is equal to 0.01m. It is also ≈ 0.3937in.
Centimetres are used in maps to scale up conversions to real world measurements.
The millimetre (American spelling millimeter) is a unit of length and is a multiple of the SI unit metre. It uses the symbol mm.
There are 1000 mm in 1 m and 10 mm in 1 cm. From this one can derive that there are 0.03937 in.
The millimetre is sometimes verbally abbreviated to 'mil' - which can cause confusion in the US as there is a unit there that means thousandth of an inch.