# mains vs minus

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### mains
*noun · IPA /meɪnz/ · frequency rank #16,070*
plural of main

### minus
*preposition · IPA /ˈmaɪ.nəs/ · frequency rank #7,158*
Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mains-vs-minus