Which to use
“miette” and “minute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,136
- “miette” frequency rank
- #1,778
- “minute” frequency rank
- 32914
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | miette | minute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Une des petites parties qui tombent du pain quand on le coupe, ou qui restent quand on a mangé. | Unité de mesure de temps, compatible avec le Système international, et qui compte soixante secondes. Son symbole est min. |
Where the eye mixes miette and minute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. miette (CVVCCV) and minute (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between miette and minute
A purely visual mix-up. miette (\mjɛt\) and minute (\mi.nyt\) 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 32914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
miette is recorded at frequency rank #31,136, classified as anoun, pronounced \mjɛt\. minute is at rank #1,778, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.nyt\.
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 32914, this pair ranks #294,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of miette vs minute
Shared letters: eimt. Private to "miette": -. Private to "minute": nu.
"miette" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "minute" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "miette" for "minute" ever safe?
Which is more common, "miette" or "minute"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "miette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "minute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "miette" and "minute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "miette vs muettes". 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 #294,125 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.