Which to use
“minister” and “ministres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,172
- “minister” frequency rank
- #2,433
- “ministres” frequency rank
- 47605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | minister | ministres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ministre. | Pluriel de ministre. |
Where the eye mixes minister and ministres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. minister runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against ministres's 9 (CVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: minister vs ministres
A purely visual mix-up. minister (\ˈmɪn.ə.stɚ\) and ministres (\mi.nistʁ\) 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 47605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
minister is recorded at frequency rank #45,172, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈmɪn.ə.stɚ\. ministres is at rank #2,433, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.nistʁ\.
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 47605, this pair ranks #185,626 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of minister vs ministres
Shared letters: eimnrst. Private to "minister": -. Private to "ministres": -.
"minister" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "ministres" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "minister" and "ministres" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "minister" or "ministres"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "minister" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ministres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,626 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "minister" and "ministres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magister vs minister". 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 #185,626 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.