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These are two more words that can be quite confusing for learners of English. I’ll try to explain with a few examples.

‘Most’ means 「たいていの」,「ほとんどの」 as in the following examples :

• Most of my friends live in Tokyo.
• Most Japanese people live in urban areas.
• I was asleep for most of the lesson.
• Most foreigners do not get into trouble with the law.

In these sentences ‘almost’ is impossible! ‘Almost Japanese people…‘
‘Almost’ is used in sentences with the meaning 「もうすこしで～ところだった」 as in the following examples :

• I almost fell off the ladder.
• He almost let the cat out of the bag.（もう少しで秘密を漏らすとこだった）
• You almost passed.
• The film was almost over by the time I got to the cinema.

That is the basic difference between these two words. So, why do people confuse them so often? It’s because sometimes they can be used with a similar meaning. Take a look at the following examples :

• Most of the people at the party were Japanese.（パーテイに居た人々はほとんど日本人だった。
• Almost all of the people at the party were Japanese. （もう少しで皆・・・）

So, ‘almost’ can be used with ‘all’ and other words like it to suggest 「もう少しで皆」 or things like that. Here are a few more examples :

things like that - そういうようなこと

• Almost half of the people I spoke to were single.
• Almost 90% of English people do their own home improvements.

Do you see? ‘Almost’ can be used with a quantity. You can also use ‘nearly’ with the same meaning as ‘almost’ in all the examples I have given here.

• I nearly fell off the ladder.
• The film is nearly over.
• Nearly all of the people at the party were Japanese.
• Nearly half of the people I spoke to were single.

So, the last example here could be translated as 「私が話した人の中の半分近くは、独身だった。」

Well, I hope this explanation has clarified the meaning and usage of these two words.

clarify - 明らかにする