Men's or mens?
men's is a noun meaning “possessive case of men: belonging to some or all male humans”; mens is a noun meaning “Clipping of menstruation”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) men's is about 10 times as common as mens.
What is the difference between men's and mens?
| men's | mens | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | possessive case of men: belonging to some or all male humans | colloquialClipping of menstruation |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /mɛnz/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 29 times per million words | 2.8 times per million words |
Sources: men's 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 men's and mens
men's
- 1
possessive case of men: belonging to some or all male humans
- 2
Ellipsis of men’s room (“a lavatory intended for use by men”)
- 3
Ellipsis of men's department (“an area selling clothing for adult males in a department store”)
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, men's or mens?
men's appears 29 times per million words; mens 2.8 times per million words.
men's 29 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).