The word "content" is often used colloquially to refer to media, which is erroneous as it instead means the contents of the medium rather than the medium itself. Likewise, the single word "media" and some compound words that include "media" (e.g. multimedia, hypermedia) are instead referring to a type of content. An example of a type of content commonly referred to as a type of media is a "motion picture" referred to as "a film."

The distinction between medium and content is less clear when referring to interactive elements that contain information and are then contained in interactive media, such as dice contained in board games or GUI widgets contained in software.