Which to use
“monkey” and “monks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,380
- “monkey” frequency rank
- #10,889
- “monks” frequency rank
- 17269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | monkey | monks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches. | plural of monk |
Where the eye mixes monkey and monks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between monkey and monks
A purely visual mix-up. monkey (/ˈmʌŋki/) and monks (/mʌŋks/) 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 17269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
monkey is recorded at frequency rank #6,380, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmʌŋki/. monks is at rank #10,889, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mʌŋks/.
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 17269, this pair ranks #452,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of monkey vs monks
Shared letters: kmno. Private to "monkey": ey. Private to "monks": s.
"monkey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "monks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "monkey" for "monks" ever safe?
Frequency check: "monkey" vs "monks" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "monkey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "monks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #452,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "monkey" and "monks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "monks vs mook". 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 #452,539 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.