Which to use
“minus” and “minutes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,073
- “minus” frequency rank
- #402
- “minutes” frequency rank
- 32475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | minus | minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Individu aux capacités intellectuelles limitées. | Pluriel de minute. |
Where the eye mixes minus and minutes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. minus runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against minutes's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses minus with minutes
A purely visual mix-up. minus (\mi.nys\) and minutes (\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 differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
minus is recorded at frequency rank #32,073, classified as anoun, pronounced \mi.nys\. minutes is at rank #402, 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 32475, this pair ranks #297,030 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of minus vs minutes
Shared letters: imnsu. Private to "minus": -. Private to "minutes": et.
"minus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "minutes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "minus" and "minutes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "minus" vs "minutes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "minus" and "minutes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "minus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "minutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,030 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "minus" and "minutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "minois vs minus". 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 #297,030 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.