Which to use
“maru” and “meu” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,730
- “maru” frequency rank
- #48,897
- “meu” frequency rank
- 82627
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maru | meu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A Japanese ship, especially a merchant ship. | Meum athamanticum, a European herb. |
Where the eye mixes maru and meu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. maru runs 4 letters (CVCV) against meu's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maru with meu
A purely visual mix-up. maru (/ˈmɑːɹuː/) and meu (/ˈmjuː/) 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 82627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maru is recorded at frequency rank #33,730, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑːɹuː/. 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 82627, this pair ranks #15,387 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maru vs meu
Shared letters: mu. Private to "maru": ar. Private to "meu": e.
"maru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- maru ← amru · marru · maur · mmaru · mrau
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maru" for "meu" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maru" vs "meu" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,387 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maru" and "meu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meu vs MMP". 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 #15,387 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.