Not a huge deal, but I learned monte = hill and montaña = mountain and not the other way around. Maybe I'm wrong.
Monte vs Montaña
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Monte vs Montaña
Hi Ray, I think you're right, monte is a hill or a small elevation in the ground and montaña would be much bigger, i.e. a mountain. Colina= hill. So, maybe it's, Colina=small hill, monte= medium hill/mountain and montaña= large mountain. ⛰️😊
"Monte" can sometimes be used as part of a name; e.g. -
Monte Perdido - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Perdido
Hola Ray
I don't think there's any difference and the RAE gives the same definition for both: Gran elevación natural del terreno.
As David mentioned, there are some specific mountains that have the word "Monte ..." in their name, like Monte Perdido, Monte Grande..., not so usual with the word montaña though.
I also think that the word monte is often used (pretty sure this happens more in the North of Spain) when you want to use it in a more generic way (to refer to an area where there are hills, vegetation, some elevations..), so you can say for example: "Este fin de semana nos vamos al monte."
Saludos
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