monvsmouWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mon” and “mou” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,651
“mon” frequency rank
#46,072
“mou” frequency rank
58723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mon mou
Definition Mi. Blando.

Where the eye mixes mon and mou

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
mon
3 ch
mou

Visual trap between mon and mou

A purely visual mix-up. mon (/mɔ̃/) and mou ([mu]) 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 “mon” becomes u in “mou”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mon is recorded at frequency rank #12,651, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɔ̃/. mou is at rank #46,072, tagged as anadj, pronounced [mu].

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 58723, this pair ranks #65,383 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mon vs mou

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mon": n. Private to "mou": u.

"mon" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mon" for "mou" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mɔ̃/ versus [mu]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mon" or "mou"?
"mon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,651 in our Spanish list, against #46,072 for "mou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,383 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mon" and "mou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mou vs mur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #65,383 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list