mondevsmonkTell them apart

Which to use

“monde” and “monk” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,496
“monde” frequency rank
#24,838
“monk” frequency rank
41334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature monde monk
Definition Welt Mönch

Where the eye mixes monde and monk

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
monde
4 ch
monk

Look-alike desk: monde vs monk

A purely visual mix-up. monde ([mɔ̃d]) and monk ([mʌŋk]) 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 41334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

monde is recorded at frequency rank #16,496, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɔ̃d]. monk is at rank #24,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mʌŋk].

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 41334, this pair ranks #1,482,594 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of monde vs monk

Shared letters: mno. Private to "monde": de. Private to "monk": k.

"monde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "monk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mondemmonde · mnode · modne · mondde · moned · monnde · omnde
  • monkmmonk · mnok · mokn · monkk · monnk · omnk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "monde" and "monk" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mɔ̃d] versus [mʌŋk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "monde" or "monk"?
"monde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,496 in our German list, against #24,838 for "monk". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "monde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "monk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,482,594 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "monde" and "monk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "monk vs mora". 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 #1,482,594 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list