Man or men?
men is the plural of man. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) man is about 2.0 times as common as men.
What is the difference between man and men?
| man | men | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, interjection, pronoun, verb, suffix | noun, interjection, suffix |
| Meaning | An adult male human All human males collectively: mankind Used to place emphasis upon something or someone; sometimes, but not always, when actually addressing a man To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex) | plural of man |
| Example | The show is especially popular with middle-aged men | "Muster up the men in the barracks at 0600," the lieutenant said to his sergeant |
| Forms | men | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmæn/ [ˈmɛə̯n] [ˈmeə̯n] | /mɛn/ /mɪn/ |
| In writing | 661 times per million words | 324 times per million words |
Sources: man and men 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 man and men
man
- 1
An adult male human
The show is especially popular with middle-aged men
- 2
Used to place emphasis upon something or someone; sometimes, but not always, when actually addressing a man
Man, that was a great catch!
- 3
slangUsed to refer to oneself or one's group: I, we; construed in the third person
Man's got some new creps
- 4
To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex)
The ship was manned with a small crew
- 5
Initialism of Metropolitan Area Network, a large computer network usually spanning a city
- 6
Someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area or who takes part in an activity
horse + -man → horseman
- 7
Abbreviation of manager
- 8
All human males collectively: mankind
men
- 1
dated(The) people, humanity, man(kind)
- 2
Acronym of multiple endocrine neoplasia
- 3
derogatoryoffensiveExpressing disdain for male behavior, particularly toxic masculinity
- 4
datedEnlisted personnel (as opposed to commissioned officers)
"Muster up the men in the barracks at 0600," the lieutenant said to his sergeant
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, man or men?
man appears 661 times per million words; men 324 times per million words.
man 661 times per million wordsmen 324 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 man vs men?
“man vs men” is searched about 1,900 times a month on Google and 70 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“men vs man”, “man or men”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.