mincesvsminerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#15,939
“minces” frequency rank
#25,047
“miner” frequency rank
40986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature minces miner
Definition Pluriel de mince. Creuser par-dessous un terrain, un rocher pour provoquer un effondrement ou pour y placer une mine.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set minces and miner apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
minces
5 ch
miner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: minces is \mɛ̃s\ while miner is \mi.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

minces is recorded at frequency rank #15,939, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛ̃s\. miner is at rank #25,047, tagged as averb, pronounced \mi.ne\.

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 40986, this pair ranks #236,442 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of minces vs miner

Shared letters: eimn. Private to "minces": cs. Private to "miner": r.

"minces" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "miner" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mincesimnces · micnes · mincces · mincess · mincse · minecs · minnces · mminces
  • minerimner · mienr · minerr · minner · minre · mminer · mnier

Frequency comparison

minces#15,939
miner#25,047

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "minces" and "miner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "minces" is an adjective and "miner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "minces" or "miner"?
"minces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,939 in our French list, against #25,047 for "miner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering minces vs miner

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “minces”; for a verb, it's “miner”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “minces” 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