molvsmugTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,602
“mol” frequency rank
#11,072
“mug” frequency rank
34674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mol mug
Definition Alternative spelling of mole. A large cup for beverages, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.

Where the eye mixes mol and mug

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mol
3 ch
mug

Visual trap between mol and mug

A purely visual mix-up. mol (/məʊl/) and mug (/mʌɡ/) 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 34674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mol is recorded at frequency rank #23,602, classified as anoun, pronounced /məʊl/. mug is at rank #11,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mʌɡ/.

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 34674, this pair ranks #318,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mol vs mug

Shared letters: m. Private to "mol": lo. Private to "mug": gu.

"mol" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mug" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mol" and "mug" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/məʊl/ versus /mʌɡ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mol" vs "mug" - which ranks higher?
"mug" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,072 in our English list, against #23,602 for "mol". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "mol" and "mug" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mol" and "mug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mol vs Moog". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #318,728 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list