moneyvsmonkeysTell them apart

Which to use

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

#210
“money” frequency rank
#8,829
“monkeys” frequency rank
9039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature money monkeys
Definition A generally accepted means of exchange. plural of monkey

Where the eye mixes money and monkeys

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. money runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against monkeys's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
money
7 ch
monkeys

Visual trap between money and monkeys

A purely visual mix-up. money (/ˈmʌn.i/) and monkeys (/ˈmʌŋkiz/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

money is recorded at frequency rank #210, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmʌn.i/. monkeys is at rank #8,829, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmʌŋkiz/.

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 9039, this pair ranks #499,386 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of money vs monkeys

Shared letters: emnoy. Private to "money": -. Private to "monkeys": ks.

"money" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "monkeys" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • money ← mmoney · mnoey · moeny · moneyy · monney · monye · omney
  • monkeys ← mmonkeys · mnokeys · mokneys · monekys · monkesy · monkeyss · monkeyys · monkkeys

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "money" for "monkeys" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmʌn.i/ versus /ˈmʌŋkiz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "money" vs "monkeys" - which ranks higher?
"money" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #210 in our English list, against #8,829 for "monkeys". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "money" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "monkeys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #499,386 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "money" and "monkeys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moneys vs monkeys". 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 #499,386 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