diff --git a/src/interface/parse_args.hpp b/src/interface/parse_args.hpp
index 5a4c4208..ec2cb2ab 100644
--- a/src/interface/parse_args.hpp
+++ b/src/interface/parse_args.hpp
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ void parse_args(int argc,
     parser.helpParams.flagindent = 2;
     parser.helpParams.helpindent = 35;
     parser.helpParams.eachgroupindent = 2;
+    parser.helpParams.optionsString = "";
 
     args::Group options_group(parser, "");
     args::Positional<std::string> target_sequence_file(options_group, "target.fa", "target sequences (required, default: self-map)");
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ void parse_args(int argc,
     args::ValueFlag<double> kmer_complexity(mapping_opts, "FLOAT", "minimum k-mer complexity threshold", {'J', "kmer-cmplx"});
     args::ValueFlag<std::string> hg_filter(mapping_opts, "numer,ani-Δ,conf", "hypergeometric filter params [1.0,0.0,99.9]", {"hg-filter"});
     args::ValueFlag<int> min_hits(mapping_opts, "INT", "minimum number of hits for L1 filtering [auto]", {'H', "l1-hits"});
-    args::ValueFlag<double> max_kmer_freq(mapping_opts, "FLOAT", "filter out top FLOAT fraction of repetitive minimizers [0.0002]", {'F', "filter-freq"});
+    args::ValueFlag<double> max_kmer_freq(mapping_opts, "FLOAT", "filter minimizers occurring > FLOAT of total [0.0002]", {'F', "filter-freq"});
 
     args::Group alignment_opts(options_group, "Alignment:");
     args::ValueFlag<std::string> input_mapping(alignment_opts, "FILE", "input PAF file for alignment", {'i', "align-paf"});
diff --git a/src/map/include/winSketch.hpp b/src/map/include/winSketch.hpp
index ee02632a..d196b8f0 100644
--- a/src/map/include/winSketch.hpp
+++ b/src/map/include/winSketch.hpp
@@ -256,15 +256,27 @@ namespace skch
                       continue;  // Should never happen
                   }
 
-                  uint64_t freq_cutoff;
+                  uint64_t freq = freq_it->second;
+                  uint64_t min_occ = 10;  // minimum occurrence threshold to prevent over-filtering in small datasets
+                  uint64_t max_occ = std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max();  // no upper limit on occurrences
+                  uint64_t count_threshold;
+                  
                   if (param.max_kmer_freq <= 1.0) {
-                      // Calculate cutoff based on fraction of total windows
-                      freq_cutoff = std::max(1UL, (uint64_t)(total_windows * param.max_kmer_freq));
+                      // Calculate threshold based on fraction, but respect min/max bounds
+                      count_threshold = std::min(max_occ, 
+                                               std::max(min_occ, 
+                                                      (uint64_t)(total_windows * param.max_kmer_freq)));
                   } else {
-                      // Use direct count cutoff
-                      freq_cutoff = (uint64_t)param.max_kmer_freq;
+                      // Use direct count threshold, but respect min/max bounds
+                      count_threshold = std::min(max_occ,
+                                               std::max(min_occ,
+                                                      (uint64_t)param.max_kmer_freq));
                   }
-                  if (freq_it->second > freq_cutoff) {
+
+                  // Filter only if BOTH conditions are met:
+                  // 1. Frequency exceeds the calculated threshold
+                  // 2. Count exceeds minimum occurrence threshold
+                  if (freq > count_threshold && freq > min_occ) {
                       filtered_kmers++;
                       continue;
                   }