mincesvsminisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“minces” and “minis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,939
“minces” frequency rank
#40,868
“minis” frequency rank
56807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature minces minis
Definition Pluriel de mince. Pluriel de mini.

Where the eye mixes minces and minis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. minces runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against minis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
minces
5 ch
minis

Visual trap between minces and minis

A purely visual mix-up. minces (\mɛ̃s\) and minis (\mi.ni\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56807, 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\. minis is at rank #40,868, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mi.ni\.

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 56807, this pair ranks #118,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of minces vs minis

Shared letters: imns. Private to "minces": ce. Private to "minis": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • minces ← imnces · micnes · mincces · mincess · mincse · minecs · minnces · mminces
  • minis ← imnis · miins · miniss · minnis · minsi · mminis · mniis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "minces" and "minis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mɛ̃s\ versus \mi.ni\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "minces" vs "minis" - which ranks higher?
"minces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,939 in our French list, against #40,868 for "minis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "minces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "minis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "minces" and "minis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "minis vs minois". 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 #118,779 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list