marvsmeuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mar is a verb, meu is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mar” is a verb and “meu” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,233
“mar” frequency rank
#48,897
“meu” frequency rank
54130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mar meu
Definition To spoil; to ruin; to scathe; to damage. Meum athamanticum, a European herb.

Where the eye mixes mar and meu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mar
3 ch
meu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mar is /mɑː(ɹ)/ while meu is /ˈmjuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mar is recorded at frequency rank #5,233, classified as averb, pronounced /mɑː(ɹ)/. meu is at rank #48,897, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmjuː/.

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 54130, this pair ranks #143,451 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mar vs meu

Shared letters: m. Private to "mar": ar. Private to "meu": eu.

"mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mar" and "meu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mar" is a verb and "meu" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mar" or "meu"?
"mar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,233 in our English list, against #48,897 for "meu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list