MinevsMinuteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Mine” and “Minute” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,699
“Mine” frequency rank
#1,398
“Minute” frequency rank
12097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mine Minute
Definition Bergwerk, Stollen der 60. Teil einer Stunde

Where the eye mixes Mine and Minute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Mine runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Minute's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Mine
6 ch
Minute

Look-alike desk: Mine vs Minute

A purely visual mix-up. Mine ([ˈmiːnə]) and Minute ([miˈnuːtə]) 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 12097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mine is recorded at frequency rank #10,699, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmiːnə]. Minute is at rank #1,398, tagged as anoun, pronounced [miˈnuːtə].

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 12097, this pair ranks #1,966,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mine vs Minute

Shared letters: eimn. Private to "Mine": -. Private to "Minute": tu.

"Mine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Minute" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mine ← imne · minne · mmine · mnie
  • Minute ← imnute · minnute · mintue · minuet · minutte · miunte · mminute · mniute

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mine" for "Minute" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmiːnə] versus [miˈnuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mine" or "Minute"?
"Minute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,398 in our German list, against #10,699 for "Mine". 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 "Mine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Minute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mine" and "Minute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mine vs münz". 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 #1,966,196 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list