Man or mens?
man is a noun meaning “An adult male human”; mens is a noun meaning “Clipping of menstruation”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) man is about 234 times as common as mens.
What is the difference between man and mens?
| man | mens | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, interjection, pronoun, verb, suffix | noun |
| 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 | colloquialClipping of menstruation |
| Example | The show is especially popular with middle-aged men | none recorded |
| Forms | men | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmæn/ [ˈmɛə̯n] [ˈmeə̯n] | not recorded |
| In writing | 661 times per million words | 2.8 times per million words |
Sources: man and mens 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 mens
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
mens
- 1
colloquialClipping of menstruation
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 mens?
man appears 661 times per million words; mens 2.8 times per million words.
man 661 times per million wordsmens 2.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).