mess around vs monkey around

mess around and monkey around both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
mess around	No	No	Yes	No
monkey around	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, mess around and monkey around are synonyms defined as:

mess around and monkey around: do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly

Other synonyms of mess around include monkey, muck about, muck around, potter, putter, tinker.

mess around (verb)	monkey around (verb)
do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly	do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly