mindvsminesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#378
“mind” frequency rank
#5,340
“mines” frequency rank
5718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mind mines
Definition The capability for rational thought. plural of mine

Where the eye mixes mind and mines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mind
5 ch
mines

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mind (/maɪnd/) and mines (/maɪnz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mind is recorded at frequency rank #378, classified as anoun, pronounced /maɪnd/. mines is at rank #5,340, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maɪnz/.

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 5718, this pair ranks #514,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mind vs mines

Shared letters: imn. Private to "mind": d. Private to "mines": es.

"mind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mindimnd · midn · mindd · minnd · mmind · mnid
  • minesimnes · miens · miness · minnes · minse · mmines · mnies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mind" and "mines" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/maɪnd/ versus /maɪnz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mind" or "mines"?
"mind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #378 in our English list, against #5,340 for "mines". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list