A broom is a cleaning tool with bristles used for sweeping dry debris off floors. A mop is a cleaning tool with absorbent strands used for washing floors with water. In short: broom sweeps, mop washes, and the usual order is broom first, then mop.
The core difference
A broom sweeps dry floors with bristles, while a mop washes floors with absorbent strands.
- broom — a cleaning tool with bristles on a long handle, used for sweeping floors: He grabbed a broom to sweep up the broken glass.
- mop — a cleaning tool with a long handle and a bundle of absorbent strands, used for washing floors: She grabbed a mop to clean up the spilled juice.
How to tell them apart
The material at the working end tells you which tool you need. Bristles mean broom, and bristles are for dry sweeping, moving dust, crumbs, and debris across a floor. Absorbent strands mean mop, and absorbent strands are for wet cleaning, soaking up liquid and washing a surface.
Both words also wander off into unrelated meanings that can trip people up. Broom can name a yellow-flowered shrub the cleaning tool was originally made from, and mop can describe a thick, untidy head of hair, as in he pushed his mop of curly hair out of his eyes.
