How do I set the default font size in Vim?

For the first one remove the spaces. Whitespace matters for the set command.

set guifont=Monaco:h20

For the second one it should be (the h specifies the height)

set guifont=Monospace:h20

My recommendation for setting the font is to do (if your version supports it)

set guifont=*

This will pop up a menu that allows you to select the font. After selecting the font, type

set guifont?

To show what the current guifont is set to. After that copy that line into your vimrc or gvimrc. If there are spaces in the font add a \ to escape the space.

set guifont=Monospace\ 20

I cross over the same problem I put the following code in the folder ~/.gvimrc and it works.

set guifont=Monaco:h20

Try a \<Space> before 12, like so:

:set guifont=Monospace\ 12