Which to use
“meagre” and “measure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,584
- “meagre” frequency rank
- #2,261
- “measure” frequency rank
- 36845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meagre | measure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An edible fish, of species Argyrosomus regius, of the family Sciaenidae, found from the Black Sea to the eastern Atlantic. | A prescribed quantity or extent. |
Where the eye mixes meagre and measure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. meagre runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against measure's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: meagre vs measure
A purely visual mix-up. meagre (/ˈmiːɡɚ/) and measure (/ˈmɛʒ.ə/) 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 36845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meagre is recorded at frequency rank #34,584, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmiːɡɚ/. measure is at rank #2,261, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛʒ.ə/.
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 36845, this pair ranks #299,630 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of meagre vs measure
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "meagre": g. Private to "measure": su.
"meagre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "measure" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "meagre" and "measure" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "meagre" or "measure"?
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 "meagre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "measure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,630 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meagre" and "measure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meagre vs Mears". 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 #299,630 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.