Which to use
“meer” is a noun and “meld” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,507
- “meer” frequency rank
- #40,795
- “meld” frequency rank
- 86302
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meer | meld |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A boundary. | To combine (multiple things) together; to blend, to fuse. |
Where the eye mixes meer and meld
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. meer (CVVC) and meld (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: meer vs meld
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meer is /ˈmɪə(ɹ)/ while meld is /mɛld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meer is recorded at frequency rank #45,507, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɪə(ɹ)/. meld is at rank #40,795, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɛld/.
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 86302, this pair ranks #9,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of meer vs meld
Shared letters: em. Private to "meer": r. Private to "meld": dl.
"meer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "meld" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meer" for "meld" ever safe?
Frequency check: "meer" vs "meld" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "meer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meld" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meer" and "meld" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meer vs miser". 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 #9,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.