“Between” vs. “Among”: What’s the difference?

The definitions of “between” and “among”

“Between” and “among” have similar meanings, and that’s why these words are commonly confused in speech and writing.

“Between” can be used as a preposition or as an adverb. If you’re using it as a proposition, “between” can mean something that separates two objects or regions. “Between” can also mean something that separates two points in time when used as a preposition. If you want to use “between” as an adverb, you’ll pair it with the word “in” so that it’s “in between.” Although it’s a different type of speech, the meanings are still the same as when “between” is used as a preposition.

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“Among,” or “amongst,” is also a preposition. It means to be surrounded by something, in the company of something or someone, or being a member of a larger set of people or things. Whether or not you use “among” or “amongst” in your writing will depend on your location. Different countries have their own preferences. If you’re using American English, “among” is the more commonly used spelling.

When to use “between” vs. “among” in your writing

While it’s a common belief that you should use “between” to describe the separation of just two objects, it’s a bit more complex than that. You can use “between” to list out more than a couple of things or people. A quick, and more specific, rule of thumb is to use “between” when describing the separation of specific objects and to use “among,” or “amongst,” when you’re describing an abundance of objects that are general or aren’t specific.

Examples of how to correctly use “between” and “among”

Referring back to the rule of specificity, here are some examples of how you can correctly use “between” and “among.”

The dog sat between the cat and the turtle.

Yes, in this example, the dog is what’s separating two other nouns: the cat and the turtle. However, that’s not why “between” is used in this sentence. “Between” is used here because the dog is separating two specific nouns. If you instead wrote:

The dog sat among the other animals.

You would use “among” instead of between because the sentence doesn’t specify what the other animals are.

Other examples of how to use “among” and “between” are:

She picked between chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cookie dough, and lemon drop while at the ice cream parlor.

In this sentence, there are far more than two nouns listed. However, “between” is used because the girl had a selection of specific ice cream choices she could select. If you didn’t know what the specific ice cream flavors were, you could say:

She picked among a variety of flavors at the ice cream parlor.

Here, you know that there are a number of flavors she picked from, but the flavors aren’t specified.

Remember when speaking and writing that “between” is used to describe specific nouns whereas “among” is used for generally described nouns. Don’t worry if you still have a hard time using the correct word naturally because the English language is complex. There are other words that are commonly confused and incorrectly used, like affect versus effect and homophones that sound the same but have different meanings. Keep practicing when you write and speak so that your meaning is coming across in a clear manner.