molevsmongeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,187
“mole” frequency rank
#8,505
“monge” frequency rank
15692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mole monge
Definition não duro pessoa devotada à vida monástica e clausural

Where the eye mixes mole and monge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mole
5 ch
monge

Visual trap between mole and monge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mole is /ˈmɔ.lɨ/ while monge is /ˈmõ.ʒɨ/. 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 15692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mole is recorded at frequency rank #7,187, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɔ.lɨ/. monge is at rank #8,505, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmõ.ʒɨ/.

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 15692, this pair ranks #56,063 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mole vs monge

Shared letters: emo. Private to "mole": l. Private to "monge": gn.

"mole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "monge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • molemloe · mmole · moel · molle · omle
  • mongemmonge · mnoge · mogne · moneg · mongge · monnge · omnge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mole" and "monge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mole" is an adjective and "monge" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mole" or "monge" show up more?
"mole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,187 in our Portuguese list, against #8,505 for "monge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "monge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,063 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mole" and "monge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "míope vs mole". 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 #56,063 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list