minorvsmirarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: minor is a adjective, mirar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“minor” is an adjective and “mirar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,541
“minor” frequency rank
#1,581
“mirar” frequency rank
50122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature minor mirar
Definition Menor. Fijar la vista en un objeto, aplicando juntamente la atención.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set minor and mirar apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
minor
5 ch
mirar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: minor is /ˈmaɪ.nə/ while mirar is [miˈɾaɾ]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

minor is recorded at frequency rank #48,541, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmaɪ.nə/. mirar is at rank #1,581, tagged as averb, pronounced [miˈɾaɾ].

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 50122, this pair ranks #104,960 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of minor vs mirar

Shared letters: imr. Private to "minor": no. Private to "mirar": a.

"minor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • minorimnor · minnor · minorr · minro · mionr · mminor · mnior
  • mirarimrar · miarr · mirarr · mirra · mirrar · mmirar · mriar

Frequency comparison

minor#48,541
mirar#1,581

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "minor" and "mirar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "minor" is an adjective and "mirar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "minor" or "mirar"?
"mirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,581 in our Spanish list, against #48,541 for "minor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering minor vs mirar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “minor”; for a verb, it's “mirar”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “minor” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list