Meter or metre?
In American English write meter; in British and Commonwealth English, metre. meter is a noun meaning “A device that measures things”; metre is a noun meaning “The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) meter is about 2.1 times as common as metre.
What is the difference between meter and metre?
| meter | metre | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, suffix | noun, verb, suffix |
| Meaning | A device that measures things A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment To measure with a metering device | The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in… CanadaUKThe rhythm or measure in language (especially verse) CanadaUKThe rhythm or measure in musical composition |
| Example | gas meter | Holonyms: kilometre < megametre < gigametre < terametre < petametre |
| Forms | meters μmeters | metres |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmitəɹ/ [ˈmiɾɚ] /ˈmiːtə/ | /ˈmiːtə/ /ˈmiːtəɹ/ [ˈmiːɾɚ] |
| Region | US | UK |
| In writing | 12 times per million words | 5.8 times per million words |
Sources: meter and metre in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of meter and metre
meter
- 1
A device that measures things
- 2
To measure with a metering device
- 3
USUS standard spelling of metre (“a unit of measure”)
- 4
USUS standard spelling of metre (“the rhythm or measure”)
- 5
Used to form the names of measuring devices
- 6
Abbreviation of micrometer
- 7
A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment
gas meter
- 8
To imprint a postage mark with a postage meter
metre
- 1
The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 seconds. The metre is equal…
Holonyms: kilometre < megametre < gigametre < terametre < petametre
- 2
CanadaUKThe rhythm or measure in language (especially verse)
- 3
To put into metrical form
- 4
CanadaUKThe rhythm or measure in musical composition
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, meter or metre?
meter appears 12 times per million words; metre 5.8 times per million words.
meter 12 times per million wordsmetre 5.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search meter vs metre?
“meter vs metre” is searched about 260 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“metre vs meter”, “meter or metre”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.