Which to use
“maints” is an adjective and “mins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,418
- “maints” frequency rank
- #38,919
- “mins” frequency rank
- 76337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maints | mins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de maint. | Pluriel de min. |
Where the eye mixes maints and mins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maints runs 6 letters (CVVCCC) against mins's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: maints vs mins
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maints is \mɛ̃\ while mins is \min\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maints is recorded at frequency rank #37,418, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛ̃\. mins is at rank #38,919, tagged as anoun, pronounced \min\.
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 76337, this pair ranks #31,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maints vs mins
Shared letters: imns. Private to "maints": at. Private to "mins": -.
"maints" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "mins" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maints" and "mins" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maints" vs "mins" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maints" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maints" and "mins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mins vs mito". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #31,431 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.