Which to use
“meagre” and “metre” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,584
- “meagre” frequency rank
- #10,237
- “metre” frequency rank
- 44821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meagre | metre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An edible fish, of species Argyrosomus regius, of the family Sciaenidae, found from the Black Sea to the eastern Atlantic. | The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 seconds. The metre is equal to 39+⁴⁷⁄₁₂₇ (approximately 39.37) imperial inches. |
Where the eye mixes meagre and metre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. meagre runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against metre's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses meagre with metre
A purely visual mix-up. meagre (/ˈmiːɡɚ/) and metre (/ˈmiːtə/) 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 44821, 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/. metre is at rank #10,237, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmiːtə/.
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 44821, this pair ranks #227,003 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of meagre vs metre
Shared letters: emr. Private to "meagre": ag. Private to "metre": t.
"meagre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "metre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meagre" for "metre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "meagre" or "metre"?
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 "meagre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "metre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,003 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meagre" and "metre" 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 #227,003 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.