matsvsmesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mats” and “mes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,563
“mats” frequency rank
#28,991
“mes” frequency rank
42554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mats mes
Definition plural of mat plural of me

Letter map: mats vs mes

Shared letters muted; letters that set mats and mes apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
mats
3 ch
mes

Corpus notes: mats and mes

mats and mes are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mats is recorded at frequency rank #13,563, classified as anoun, pronounced /mæts/. mes is at rank #28,991, tagged as anoun.

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 42554, this pair ranks #248,126 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mats vs mes

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mats": at. Private to "mes": e.

"mats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matsamts · matss · matts · mmats · mtas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mats" and "mes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mats" vs "mes" - which ranks higher?
"mats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,563 in our English list, against #28,991 for "mes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "mats" and "mes". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,126 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mats" and "mes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mes 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 #248,126 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list