Which to use
“mend” and “met” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,888
- “mend” frequency rank
- #853
- “met” frequency rank
- 19741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mend | met |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To physically repair (something that is broken, defaced, decayed, torn, or otherwise damaged). | simple past and past participle of meet |
Where the eye mixes mend and met
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mend vs met
A purely visual mix-up. mend (/mɛnd/) and met (/mɛt/) 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 19741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mend is recorded at frequency rank #18,888, classified as averb, pronounced /mɛnd/. met is at rank #853, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɛt/.
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 19741, this pair ranks #436,057 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mend vs met
Shared letters: em. Private to "mend": dn. Private to "met": t.
"mend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "met" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mend ← emnd · medn · mendd · mennd · mmend · mned
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mend" and "met" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mend" vs "met" - which ranks higher?
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 "mend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "met" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,057 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mend" and "met" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mela vs mend". 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 #436,057 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.