Massage or message?
massage is a noun meaning “The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person…”; message is a noun meaning “A communication, or what is communicated; any concept or information conveyed”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) message is about 9.8 times as common as massage.
What is the difference between massage and message?
| massage | message | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches The action of rubbing or kneading anything To rub and knead (someone's body or body part), to perform a massage on (somebody) | A communication, or what is communicated; any concept or information conveyed An errand To send a message to; to transmit a message to, e.g. as text via a cell phone |
| Example | Having a massage can have many beneficial effects | We've just received an urgent message from the President |
| Forms | massages | messages |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmæsɑː(d)ʒ/ /məˈsɑː(d)ʒ/ /məˈsɑ(d)ʒ/ | /ˈmɛs.ɪdʒ/ /ˈmɛs.ədʒ/ |
| In writing | 10 times per million words | 100 times per million words |
Sources: massage and message 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 massage and message
massage
- 1
The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches
Having a massage can have many beneficial effects
- 2
To rub and knead (someone's body or body part), to perform a massage on (somebody)
My neck doesn't hurt as much as it did last night since my wife massaged me after I got back from the concert
- 3
The action of rubbing or kneading anything
The baker gave the dough one final massage
- 4
To rub or knead anything
Massage the kale to soften it before making the salad
- 5
To manipulate (data, a document etc.) to make it more presentable or more convenient to work with
- 6
To falsify (data or accounts)
message
- 1
A communication, or what is communicated; any concept or information conveyed
We've just received an urgent message from the President
- 2
To send a message to; to transmit a message to, e.g. as text via a cell phone
Just message me for directions
- 3
An errand
- 4
To send (something) as a message; usually refers to electronic messaging
She messaged me the information yesterday
- 5
IrelandScotlandAn errand to a shop, a shopping expedition; an item of shopping; (in plural) groceries
- 6
To send a message or messages; to be capable of sending messages
We've implemented a new messaging service
- 7
An underlying theme or conclusion to be drawn from something
The main message of the novel is that time heals all wounds
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, massage or message?
massage appears 10 times per million words; message 100 times per million words.
massage 10 times per million wordsmessage 100 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 massage vs message?
“massage vs message” is searched about 720 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“message vs massage”, “massage or message”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.