Which to use
“mould” and “mount” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,078
- “mould” frequency rank
- #3,185
- “mount” frequency rank
- 19263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mould | mount |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Commonwealth standard spelling of mold. | A hill or mountain. |
Where the eye mixes mould and mount
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mould vs mount
A purely visual mix-up. mould (/moʊld/) and mount (/maʊnt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mould is recorded at frequency rank #16,078, classified as anoun, pronounced /moʊld/. mount is at rank #3,185, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maʊnt/.
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 19263, this pair ranks #439,374 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mould vs mount
Shared letters: mou. Private to "mould": dl. Private to "mount": nt.
"mould" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "mount" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mould" and "mount" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "mould" or "mount" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mould" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mount" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,374 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mould" and "mount" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mould vs mudd". 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 #439,374 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.