What is the difference between the words within and among?

Answer 1

"Within" means "inside". "Within these four walls we will be safe" "He had a rabbit concealed within his hat." The thing that is within is inside and the thing or things it is within is outside.

"Among" means being one of a group of three or more things. Their relative position or order is not important. "Among our volunteers are three former Boy Scouts." It doesn't matter which three are the Boy Scouts. "Among the fruits in the fruit basket was a banana" It doesn't matter whether the banana was on the inside or on the outside.

The words can overlap when talking about the group itself, because the group is often conceived of as being outside of its individual members. We say things like "John is inour group." This idea of a group being a line with the members inside and the non-members outside means you can say "There are three Boy Scouts within our group.", where you could never say "There are three Boy Scouts within our members" because that would mean that the Scouts had been eaten by the members.