amenvsamongWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: amen is a adverb, among is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“amen” is an adverb and “among” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,900
“amen” frequency rank
#42,150
“among” frequency rank
55050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amen among
Definition Ainsi soit-il : ce mot clôt en général les prières. Entre, parmi, au milieu de.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set amen and among apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
amen
5 ch
among

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amen is \a.mɛn\ while among is \ə.mʌŋ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amen is recorded at frequency rank #12,900, classified as anadv, pronounced \a.mɛn\. among is at rank #42,150, tagged as aprep, pronounced \ə.mʌŋ\.

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 55050, this pair ranks #129,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of amen vs among

Shared letters: amn. Private to "amen": e. Private to "among": go.

"amen" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "among" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amenaemn · amenn · ammen · amne · maen
  • amongammong · amnog · amogn · amongg · amonng · aomng · maong

Frequency comparison

amen#12,900
among#42,150

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "amen" and "among" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "amen" is an adverb and "among" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "amen" or "among"?
"amen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,900 in our French list, against #42,150 for "among". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering amen vs among

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “amen”; for a preposition, it's “among”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “amen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list