mindvsmindsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mind” and “minds” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#378
“mind” frequency rank
#3,315
“minds” frequency rank
3693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mind minds
Definition The capability for rational thought. plural of mind

Where the eye mixes mind and minds

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mind
5 ch
minds

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mind (/maɪnd/) and minds (/maɪndz/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “mind” sits inside “minds”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mind is recorded at frequency rank #378, classified as anoun, pronounced /maɪnd/. minds is at rank #3,315, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maɪndz/.

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 3693, this pair ranks #521,284 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mind vs minds

Shared letters: dimn. Private to "mind": -. Private to "minds": s.

"mind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "minds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mindimnd · midn · mindd · minnd · mmind · mnid
  • mindsimnds · midns · mindds · mindss · minnds · minsd · mminds · mnids

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mind" and "minds" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/maɪnd/ versus /maɪndz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mind" or "minds"?
"mind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #378 in our English list, against #3,315 for "minds". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list