Among or amongst?
among is a preposition meaning “Of a person or thing: in the midst of and surrounded by (other people or things)”; amongst is a preposition meaning “Denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects. See usage…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) among is about 10 times as common as amongst.
What is the difference between among and amongst?
| among | amongst | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | preposition, adverb | preposition |
| Meaning | Of a person or thing: in the midst of and surrounded by (other people or things) Associated with or living alongside (other people or things) | Denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects. See usage note at amidst |
| Example | to put the cat among the pigeons | Janek feels very at ease amongst his friends, but gets incredibly nervous when meeting new people |
| Forms | amonge, amoung | among |
| Pronunciation | /əˈmʌŋ/ /əˈmɜŋ/ /əˈmɘ̞ŋ/ | /əˈmʌŋst/ /əˈmɜŋst/ /əˈmɘ̞ŋst/ |
| In writing | 204 times per million words | 20 times per million words |
Sources: among and amongst in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of among and amongst
among
- 1
Of a person or thing: in the midst of and surrounded by (other people or things)
to put the cat among the pigeons
- 2
Associated with or living alongside (other people or things)
How can you speak with authority about their customs when you have never lived among them?
- 3
Belonging to (a group comprising similar people or things)
He is among the few who completely understand the subject
- 4
Distinct in some way from (other members of a group); specifically, superior or pre-eminent compared to (other members of a group)
- 5
Originally, in the course of; during; now, in the circumstances or context of
- 6
Distributed or divided between (members of a group)
- 7
Done jointly by (two or more people)
- 8
In the general custom or opinion of (members of a group)
amongst
- 1
Denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects. See usage note at amidst
Janek feels very at ease amongst his friends, but gets incredibly nervous when meeting new people
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, among or amongst?
among appears 204 times per million words; amongst 20 times per million words.
among 204 times per million wordsamongst 20 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search among vs amongst?
“among vs amongst” is searched about 6,600 times a month on Google and 510 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“amongst vs among”, “among or amongst”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.