Which to use
“mate” and “mine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,837
- “mate” frequency rank
- #2,885
- “mine” frequency rank
- 16722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mate | mine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Endroit, dans Paris, où se tenait le conseil de filous. | Endroit d’où l’on extrait le minerai, par opposition aux carrières. Elles peuvent être souterraines ou à ciel ouvert. |
Where the eye mixes mate and mine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mate with mine
A purely visual mix-up. mate (\mat\) and mine (\min\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mate is recorded at frequency rank #13,837, classified as anoun, pronounced \mat\. mine is at rank #2,885, 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 16722, this pair ranks #386,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mate vs mine
Shared letters: em. Private to "mate": at. Private to "mine": in.
"mate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mate" for "mine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mate" vs "mine" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mate" and "mine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mate" and "mine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mate 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 #386,572 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.