monthvsmouthWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#562
“month” frequency rank
#1,569
“mouth” frequency rank
2131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature month mouth
Definition A period into which a year is divided, historically based on the phases of the moon. The front opening of a creature through which food is ingested.

Where the eye mixes month and mouth

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
month
5 ch
mouth

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. month (/mʌnθ/) and mouth (/maʊθ/) 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 a single letter - n in “month” becomes u in “mouth”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

month is recorded at frequency rank #562, classified as anoun, pronounced /mʌnθ/. mouth is at rank #1,569, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maʊθ/.

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 2131, this pair ranks #525,783 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of month vs mouth

Shared letters: hmot. Private to "month": n. Private to "mouth": u.

"month" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "mouth" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • monthmmonth · mnoth · monht · monnth · monthh · montth · motnh · omnth
  • mouthmmouth · motuh · mouht · mouthh · moutth · muoth · omuth

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "month" and "mouth" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mʌnθ/ versus /maʊθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "month" or "mouth"?
"month" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #562 in our English list, against #1,569 for "mouth". 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