mintvsmonthWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mint is a adjective, month is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mint” is an adjective and “month” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,193
“mint” frequency rank
#45,178
“month” frequency rank
79371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mint month
Definition Menthe. Mois.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
mint
5 ch
month

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mint is \mɪnt\ while month is \mʌnθ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mint is recorded at frequency rank #34,193, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɪnt\. month is at rank #45,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mʌnθ\.

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 79371, this pair ranks #23,466 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mint vs month

Shared letters: mnt. Private to "mint": i. Private to "month": ho.

"mint" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "month" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mintimnt · minnt · mintt · mitn · mmint · mnit
  • monthmmonth · mnoth · monht · monnth · monthh · montth · motnh · omnth

Frequency comparison

mint#34,193
month#45,178

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mint" and "month" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mint" is an adjective and "month" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mint" or "month"?
"mint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,193 in our French list, against #45,178 for "month". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mint vs month

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “mint”; for a noun, it's “month”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mint” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list