molevsmonWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,745
“mole” frequency rank
#8,828
“mon” frequency rank
20573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mole mon
Definition A naevus, a pigmented, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy spot on the skin. The former currency of Japan until 1870, before the yen.

Where the eye mixes mole and mon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mole
3 ch
mon

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mole (/məʊl/) and mon (/mɑn/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mole is recorded at frequency rank #11,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /məʊl/. mon is at rank #8,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɑn/.

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 20573, this pair ranks #430,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mole vs mon

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mole": el. Private to "mon": n.

"mole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mon" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • molemloe · mmole · moel · molle · omle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mole" and "mon" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/məʊl/ versus /mɑn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mole" or "mon"?
"mon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,828 in our English list, against #11,745 for "mole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list