mangervsmongerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“manger” and “monger” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,363
“manger” frequency rank
#46,635
“monger” frequency rank
75998
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manger monger
Definition A trough in a stable or barn for animals to eat from. Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set manger and monger apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
manger
6 ch
monger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. manger (/ˈmeɪn.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/) and monger (/ˈmʌŋɡə/) 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 a single letter - a in “manger” becomes o in “monger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manger is recorded at frequency rank #29,363, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪn.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/. monger is at rank #46,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmʌŋɡə/.

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 75998, this pair ranks #31,403 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of manger vs monger

Shared letters: egmnr. Private to "manger": a. Private to "monger": o.

"manger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "monger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mangeramnger · magner · manegr · mangerr · mangger · mangre · mannger · mmanger
  • mongermmonger · mnoger · mogner · monegr · mongerr · mongger · mongre · monnger

Frequency comparison

manger#29,363
monger#46,635

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "manger" and "monger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmeɪn.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/ versus /ˈmʌŋɡə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "manger" or "monger"?
"manger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,363 in our English list, against #46,635 for "monger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering manger vs monger

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “manger” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list