melavsmendConfusable pair

Quick tell: mela is a noun, mend is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mela” is a noun and “mend” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,487
“mela” frequency rank
#18,888
“mend” frequency rank
68375
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mela mend
Definition A Hindu religious festival. To physically repair (something that is broken, defaced, decayed, torn, or otherwise damaged).

Letter map: mela vs mend

Shared letters muted; letters that set mela and mend apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
mela
4 ch
mend

Grammar separator: mela vs mend

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mela is anoun and mendaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mela is recorded at frequency rank #49,487, classified as anoun. mend is at rank #18,888, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɛnd/.

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 68375, this pair ranks #59,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mela vs mend

Shared letters: em. Private to "mela": al. Private to "mend": dn.

"mela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • melaemla · mella · mlea · mmela
  • mendemnd · medn · mendd · mennd · mmend · mned

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mela" and "mend" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mela" is a noun and "mend" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mela" or "mend"?
"mend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,888 in our English list, against #49,487 for "mela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "mela" and "mend". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mela" and "mend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mela vs MPAA". 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 #59,147 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