mindvsmissWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mind is a noun, miss is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mind” is a noun and “miss” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#378
“mind” frequency rank
#609
“miss” frequency rank
987
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mind miss
Definition The capability for rational thought. To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc.

Where the eye mixes mind and miss

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mind
4 ch
miss

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mind is /maɪnd/ while miss is /mɪs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mind is recorded at frequency rank #378, classified as anoun, pronounced /maɪnd/. miss is at rank #609, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɪs/.

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 987, this pair ranks #528,362 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mind vs miss

Shared letters: im. Private to "mind": dn. Private to "miss": s.

"mind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "miss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mindimnd · midn · mindd · minnd · mmind · mnid
  • missimss · mis · mmiss · msis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mind" and "miss" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mind" is a noun and "miss" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mind" or "miss"?
"mind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #378 in our English list, against #609 for "miss". 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