Which to use
“manus” and “monks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,726
- “manus” frequency rank
- #10,889
- “monks” frequency rank
- 44615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manus | monks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A hand, as the part of the fore limb below the forearm in a human, or the corresponding part in other vertebrates. | plural of monk |
Where the eye mixes manus and monks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. manus (CVCVC) and monks (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: manus vs monks
A purely visual mix-up. manus (/ˈmeɪnəs/) and monks (/mʌŋks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
manus is recorded at frequency rank #33,726, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪnəs/. monks is at rank #10,889, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mʌŋks/.
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 44615, this pair ranks #228,928 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of manus vs monks
Shared letters: mns. Private to "manus": au. Private to "monks": ko.
"manus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "monks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "manus" for "monks" ever safe?
Which is more common, "manus" or "monks"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "manus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "monks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #228,928 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manus" and "monks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magus vs manus". 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 #228,928 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.