Memento vs Momento: The Correct Spelling

The correct spelling is memento. A memento is an object you keep to remind you of a person, place or event, like a ticket stub from your first concert or a photo from your grandmother's ninetieth birthday. Momento is a common misspelling and isn't standard English.

The mistake makes sense once you see where it comes from. A memento captures a moment, so mo- feels logical, and the word is pronounced with a weak first vowel that's easy to mishear. But the word has nothing to do with moment. It comes from the Latin for "remember," which is the key to spelling it right.

Quick answer: Write memento (muh-MEN-toh): a keepsake or reminder. She kept the shell as a memento of the trip. Momento is a misspelling in English (though it means "moment" in Spanish). Think memento = memory.

On this page

1. Why "Momento" Feels So Right
2. What "Memento" Actually Means
3. Memento Mori
4. Memento on Screen
5. Memento, Souvenir, Keepsake and Token
6. The Correct and Incorrect Forms
7. 24 Example Sentences
8. US vs UK vs Australia
9. Common Mistakes
10. A Memory Trick That Works
11. Practice Quiz
12. Keep the Memory, Keep the E

Why "Momento" Feels So Right

Before learning the correct form, it helps to understand why the wrong one is so persuasive. Three forces push writers toward momento.

1. The link with "moment." People keep mementos to remember special moments, so the idea of a mo-ment-o fits neatly in the mind. It's a classic case of what linguists call folk etymology: reshaping a word to match something it seems to mean.

2. Weak pronunciation. In normal speech, the first vowel in memento is reduced to a quick "uh." Nobody says "MEH-mento" with a strong e. Without a clear sound to guide you, the spelling is a guess.

3. Spanish and Portuguese. Momento is a real word in both languages, meaning "moment." Millions of English speakers in the US, UK and Australia hear it regularly, in phrases like un momento, in songs and on TV. So the spelling looks familiar and legitimate.

Put those together and you have one of the most frequently misspelled words in English. It belongs in the same family as per se, which is often written "per say" because people write what they hear.

Other words reshaped the same way

Momento isn't alone. English speakers regularly remodel unfamiliar words to look like familiar ones, and several of the most common spelling errors work exactly this way:

• Miniscule for minuscule, because tiny things seem connected to mini. See minuscule vs miniscule.
• Free reign for free rein, because a monarch who reigns seems freer than a horse with loose reins. See rein vs reign.
• Per say for per se, because the Latin sounds like "say."
• Momento for memento, because a keepsake marks a moment.

In every case, the error feels sensible, which is why it spreads. The cure is the same each time: learn where the real word comes from, and the logic of the correct spelling replaces the logic of the wrong one.

What "Memento" Actually Means

Definition

A memento is an object kept as a reminder of something, especially of a person, a place, a past event or a stage of life. The emphasis is on memory and emotion, not on the object's value.

Typical mementos include:

• photographs, letters and cards
• tickets, programs and wristbands from events
• shells, stones or pressed flowers from a trip
• a medal, a trophy or a team scarf
• a piece of a loved one's jewelry or clothing
• a signed cricket bat or baseball

Part of speech

Memento is a countable noun: a memento, two mementos. It isn't used as a verb or adjective in modern English, apart from compound uses like memento box or memento jar.

Plural: mementos or mementoes?

Both plurals are correct. Mementos is more common in all three major varieties of English and is the safest choice. Mementoes is also listed by major dictionaries. Like tomatoes versus pianos, English is inconsistent with -o plurals, and memento simply allows both.

Pronunciation

muh-MEN-toh. The stress falls on the middle syllable, MEN, and the final o is a long "oh." The pronunciation is essentially the same in American, British and Australian English.

Where it comes from

Memento is borrowed directly from Latin, where it is the imperative form of the verb meminisse, "to remember." So memento literally means "Remember!", a command. In medieval Christian liturgy, prayers beginning with Memento asked God or the congregation to remember the living or the dead, and the word gradually came to mean any reminder. By the eighteenth century, it was being used in English for keepsakes in the way we use it now.

That Latin root links memento to a whole family of English words: memory, memorial, memorize, memorandum, memoir, commemorate and remember itself. All of them share the mem- sound and spelling.

Memento Mori

The best-known phrase containing the word is memento mori, Latin for "remember that you must die" (or "remember death").

Historically, a memento mori was an object or image meant to remind people of the shortness of life and encourage them to live well. Examples include:

• skulls, hourglasses and snuffed candles in European paintings
• mourning rings and lockets worn in remembrance of the dead
• carvings and inscriptions on tombs and church walls

The phrase has had a revival in recent years, especially in popular writing about Stoic philosophy, where it's presented as a prompt to focus on what matters. You'll see it on journals, coins, tattoos and social media posts. Wherever you see it, the spelling is memento mori, never momento mori.

Memento on Screen

Many people first meet the word through the film Memento, the 2000 thriller directed by Christopher Nolan. Its main character can't form new memories, so he relies on notes, photographs and tattoos to piece together what has happened to him. The title is a neat pun: his reminders are literally mementos, objects that do the remembering for him.

Because the title appears, correctly spelled, on posters, streaming menus and DVD covers, the film makes a handy reference point. If you can picture the poster, you can picture the spelling: M-E-M. The plot also ties the word tightly to memory, which is exactly the connection you need when you're unsure. Nobody would call a film about lost memory Momento.

The title is not a special brand spelling, either. It's simply the ordinary English word, used because it fits the story so well.

Memento, Souvenir, Keepsake and Token

These words overlap, but they're not identical. This table shows the usual differences:

In practice, a souvenir can be a memento, but a memento doesn't have to be a souvenir. Your late grandfather's watch is a memento and a keepsake, but nobody would call it a souvenir.

The Correct and Incorrect Forms

Most dictionaries either leave momento out or label it a misspelling. A few record it because it's so common, but always as nonstandard. In any formal or professional writing, it'll be treated as an error.

24 Example Sentences

Personal and everyday

1. I kept my boarding pass as a memento of my first trip to New York.
2. My mum has a box of mementos from when we were babies.
3. The wristband from the festival in Byron Bay is my favorite memento of that summer.
4. He gave each guest a small memento: a jar of honey from his own bees.
5. Grandpa's old pocket watch is a treasured family memento.
6. We pressed a flower from the wedding bouquet as a memento.

Workplace and email

7. "As a memento of your twenty years with the company, please accept this framed print."
8. "We'll be giving attendees a small memento of the conference."
9. "Retiring staff members will receive an engraved memento at the dinner in Leeds."
10. "Please don't throw away the launch posters; the team would like them as mementos."
11. "The museum shop sells mementos of the exhibition, including prints and postcards."

Academic and cultural

12. The exhibition explores memento mori imagery in seventeenth-century Dutch painting.
13. Soldiers often carried mementos of home, such as letters and photographs.
14. Victorian mourning jewelry functioned as both ornament and memento.
15. The historian argues that sporting mementos help build community identity.
16. The skull on the scholar's desk is a classic memento mori.
17. Interviewees described objects that served as mementos of migration.

News style

18. Fans queued for hours outside the stadium in Melbourne to buy mementos of the final.
19. Survivors returned to the town to collect mementos from their damaged homes.
20. A firefighter rescued family photos and other mementos from the burning house.
21. The auction includes mementos from the early days of the space program.
22. Residents of Ohio were invited to share mementos for a time capsule.
23. The band's former drummer donated stage mementos to a music charity.
24. Visitors left flowers, letters and mementos at the memorial in Christchurch.
25. The school in Leicester is asking former pupils to lend mementos for its centenary display.
26. A Texas collector paid a record sum for mementos from the 1969 Moon landing.

US vs UK vs Australia

There's no difference in spelling between American, British and Australian English: all three use memento, and all three treat momento as a mistake. The pronunciation, muh-MEN-toh, is also essentially the same.

The only small variation is in the plural. Mementos is the most common form in all three countries. Mementoes appears occasionally, and some British writers may be slightly more comfortable with it, but you won't be marked wrong for using mementos anywhere.

The momento misspelling may be especially common in regions with large Spanish-speaking communities, such as parts of the United States, simply because the Spanish word is heard so often. That's a reasonable explanation for the pattern rather than a measured fact, but it's a good reminder to double-check this word if you're bilingual.

Common Mistakes

❌ I bought a momento of our trip to Edinburgh. ✅ I bought a memento of our trip to Edinburgh.

❌ The box was full of old photos and momentos. ✅ The box was full of old photos and mementos.

❌ She has "momento mori" tattooed on her wrist. ✅ She has "memento mori" tattooed on her wrist.

❌ Please accept this momento of our appreciation. ✅ Please accept this memento of our appreciation.

❌ He kept the ticket as a memento for the gig. ✅ He kept the ticket as a memento of the gig. (The usual preposition is of.)

That last one is a small grammar point. You keep something as a memento of an event or person. Memento from is also possible when you mean where it came from (a memento from Paris), but for sounds unnatural. Similar meaning-plus-spelling traps appear with stationary and stationery, where one letter changes everything.

A Memory Trick That Works

Memento starts with MEM, just like MEMory. A memento helps your memory. If you ever write mo-, ask yourself: does this object help me remember? Then it starts with mem.

You can also think of the Latin: memento means "Remember!" If you can picture a teacher wagging a finger and saying "Memento! Remember!", the e will stick.

Practice Quiz

Choose the correct spelling or form.

1. The signed shirt is a ______ of the grand final. (memento / momento)
2. Her desk is covered in ______ from her travels. (mementos / momentos)
3. The painting includes a skull as a ______ mori. (memento / momento)
4. In Spanish, "un ______" means "one moment." (memento / momento)
5. We gave the departing manager a framed photo as a memento ______ her time here. (of / for)
6. The plural "______" is also accepted, though less common. (mementoes / momentoes)

Answers

1. memento – A keepsake; momento is a misspelling in English.
2. mementos – The standard plural of memento.
3. memento – The Latin phrase is memento mori.
4. momento – This is the Spanish word for "moment," not the English keepsake word.
5. of – You keep something as a memento of a person, time or event.
6. mementoes – An accepted alternative plural; momentoes isn't a word.

Keep the Memory, Keep the E

Whenever you write about an object that keeps a memory alive, spell it memento, with mem- at the front, just like memory and remember. Save momento for Spanish or Portuguese, where it means "moment." Get that one vowel right, and your thank-you notes, retirement speeches and travel posts will look as polished as the mementos they describe.