meltvsmesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,582
“melt” frequency rank
#28,991
“mes” frequency rank
36573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature melt mes
Definition To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat. plural of me

Letter map: melt vs mes

Shared letters muted; letters that set melt and mes apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
melt
3 ch
mes

Role in the sentence - melt and mes

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: melt is averb and mesanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

melt is recorded at frequency rank #7,582, classified as averb, pronounced /mɛlt/. mes is at rank #28,991, tagged as anoun.

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 36573, this pair ranks #301,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of melt vs mes

Shared letters: em. Private to "melt": lt. Private to "mes": s.

"melt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meltemlt · mellt · meltt · metl · mlet · mmelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "melt" and "mes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "melt" is a verb and "mes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "melt" vs "mes" - which ranks higher?
"melt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,582 in our English list, against #28,991 for "mes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "melt" vs "mes" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "melt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "melt" and "mes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mes 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 #301,999 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