I’ve always thought that mold is the fungus, and to mould is to shape. When talking about it with my colleagues yesterday, I was surprised that this isn’t common. Most people use one of the two spellings to refer to both.
Doing a quick search on duckduckgo also confirms that:
- mould is the British spelling referring both meanings.
- mold is the american spelling referring to both meanings.
In my quest to prove them wrong, I was surprised at how wrong I was… until I discovered a few people on the internet who said the same thing:
- https://english.stackexchange.com/a/169920
- https://english.stackexchange.com/a/172089
- https://english.stackexchange.com/a/139605
- https://old.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/18sx2l0/mold_vs_mould_doubled_down/kfaa6nj/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/18sx2l0/mold_vs_mould_doubled_down/kfcio12/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/18sx2l0/mold_vs_mould_doubled_down/kfet3jz/
I’m not looking for what’s correct or incorrect anymore, I just find it very fascinating that there are some people who use the words similarly to me, but the vast majority of others who use it in a different way.
So: what’s the difference between mould and mold according to you?
Steve Mould obviously
I use “mold” for both, and regard “mould” as the British spelling for both.
But the etymologies are interesting—the verb comes from French modle, while the fungus comes from late Middle English mould. So if anything, your assumed distinction is etymologically reversed.
That seems to be the consensus online. But thanks for that tidbit! It feels even more bizarre now knowing that.
I wonder why a handful of people think the way I presented in the post. Perhaps American/British influences in certain places? Reading books by british authors and books by american authors at the same time? Feels unlikely.
You know that there are two unrelated words, and you’ve seen two different spellings—it’s a natural assumption that the latter stems from the former.
Why so many people would pair them up the same (etymologically unsupported) way, I don’t know… maybe we’re used to correlating words relating to art with French, and assuming that words with “ou” come from French as well (and this case just happens to be an exception).
Moulding is the trim around walls and whatnot. Molding is when something is in the process of having mold growing on it.
Wouldn’t that be mouldering?
Maybe. I honestly don’t know. Not really my field of expertise.
Moldering: “to crumble into dust, to rot”
All the definitions of molding I can find, are about shaping something.
I say mould because I’m English and that’s just how it’s spelled here (we also pronounce it with a U, pronouncing it without the U as mold would be…strange).
Not an overly exciting response I know, but there you go :P
In Australia, I used to use them the opposite way as you: “mould” for the fungus, and “mold” to shape. These days I live in the USA and use “mold” for both.
I always thought mould was the fungus and to mold was to manipulate a material
I’m Canadian, and we use a mix of British and American spellings, mostly depending on how we feel at the time of writing.
This is how I use it. So one could mold mould if they were so inclined.
I do this too, to keep them separate in my head. I get that they’re interchangeable.
American here, I’ve never used “mould” for any definition, personally- always “mold”
“mould” should be pronounced the same as would or could
I thought the same for the longest time. I blame playing tons of runescape as a kid.
I am an American so mold spelling is definitely what I ran into when referring to the fungus. Runescape is British English, so you used moulds all the time in crafting.
I do the same as you. Although I usually default to the UK’s use of u’s. Just feels right.
If you browse Canadian tool shops in Southern Ontario, Canada you will see thrm named Tool and Mold, or Tool and Mould. Nobody agrees Lol
As someone who regularly uses both British and American English both at work and in my personal life, I sometimes mix them unintentionally.
I almost always use the same spelling for either word and use context to make sure it is always clear which mold I am talking about.
I do think there is value in distinguishing the words with different spelling, but without getting everyone to agree on which spelling would mean what, I think this won’t be very productive.
I use mold for everything, but don’t really bat an eye at using mould for the tool that is used to make parts which I see pretty often through my work.
On a related tangent, because I see that this is mostly discussed to death, I dont get why Americans decided to merge other unrelated words.
For example, being exhausted and the rubber circle that cars and bikes use to roll smoothly are the same word in American English whereas we (UK) use different spellings.
Tire - Being exhausted
Tyre - Round rubber wheel thing
Like many of the differences, I suspect that one came out of the attempts as English Spelling Reform, which took greater hold in the US. Ultimately, the process hasn’t succeeded, but it has excised some of inconsistencies from the English. Though, it has also led to some confusion, as in the tire/tyre case.
Which oune wold yo souggest?
I suggest using two different spellings:Mold is the fungus. To mould is to shape.Nvm I’m an idiot. Lol
