Which to use
“meat” and “mer” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,349
- “meat” frequency rank
- #10,134
- “mer” frequency rank
- 53483
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meat | mer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die als Nahrung gedachte Muskulatur | das Meer, die See |
Where the eye mixes meat and mer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses meat with mer
A purely visual mix-up. meat ([miːt]) and mer ([mεːʀ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meat is recorded at frequency rank #43,349, classified as anoun, pronounced [miːt]. mer is at rank #10,134, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mεːʀ].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 53483, this pair ranks #1,056,247 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of meat vs mer
Shared letters: em. Private to "meat": at. Private to "mer": r.
"meat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- meat ← emat · maet · meatt · mmeat
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "meat" and "mer" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "meat" or "mer"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "meat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,056,247 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meat" and "mer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meat vs Mette". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,056,247 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.