Which to use
“minimal” and “minimes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,186
- “minimal” frequency rank
- #16,185
- “minimes” frequency rank
- 31371
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | minimal | minimes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui appartient à un minimum. | Pluriel de minime. |
Where the eye mixes minimal and minimes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. minimal and minimes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between minimal and minimes
A purely visual mix-up. minimal (\mi.ni.mal\) and minimes (\mi.nim\) 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 31371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
minimal is recorded at frequency rank #15,186, classified as anadj, pronounced \mi.ni.mal\. minimes is at rank #16,185, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mi.nim\.
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 31371, this pair ranks #304,211 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of minimal vs minimes
Shared letters: imn. Private to "minimal": al. Private to "minimes": es.
"minimal" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "minimes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "minimal" for "minimes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "minimal" vs "minimes" - 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 "minimal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "minimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #304,211 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "minimal" and "minimes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manies vs minimes". 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 #304,211 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.