Which to use
“month” and “months” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #562
- “month” frequency rank
- #446
- “months” frequency rank
- 1008
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | month | months |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A period into which a year is divided, historically based on the phases of the moon. | plural of month |
Where the eye mixes month and months
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. month (/mʌnθ/) and months (/mʌnθs/) 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 extra letter(s) - “month” sits inside “months”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
month is recorded at frequency rank #562, classified as anoun, pronounced /mʌnθ/. months is at rank #446, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mʌnθs/.
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 1008, this pair ranks #528,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of month vs months
Shared letters: hmnot. Private to "month": -. Private to "months": s.
"month" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "months" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC