Which to use
“mech” and “mem” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,471
- “mech” frequency rank
- #32,499
- “mem” frequency rank
- 57970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mech | mem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large piloted combat robot. | The thirteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). |
Where the eye mixes mech and mem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mech with mem
A purely visual mix-up. mech (/mɛk/) and mem (/mɛm/) 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 57970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mech is recorded at frequency rank #25,471, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɛk/. mem is at rank #32,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɛm/.
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 57970, this pair ranks #115,702 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mech vs mem
Shared letters: em. Private to "mech": ch. Private to "mem": -.
"mech" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mem" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mech ← emch · mceh · mecch · mechh · mehc · mmech
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mech" for "mem" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "mech" or "mem" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mech" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,702 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mech" and "mem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mem 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 #115,702 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.