meat

/miːt/

//miːt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"meat" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“meat” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,355 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#2,355
frequency rank, English
4
letters
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The flesh (muscle tissue) of an animal used as food, or a food designed to replicate its taste and texture (like plant-based meat).

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

meat vs MT
0% similar
meat vs men
50% similar
meat vs met
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for meat
PropertyValue
Headwordmeat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/miːt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,355
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “meat” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). meat lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for meat is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /miːt/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,355 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for meat, with forms such as "emat", "maet", and "meatt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MT", "men", "met", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati, from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Miit (“meat”), Danish mad (“f… The correct English form is meat, spelled M-E-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The flesh (muscle tissue) of an animal used as food, or a food designed to replicate its taste and texture (like plant-based meat).
  2. 2
    A type of meat, by anatomic position and provenance.
  3. 3
    Food, for animals or humans, especially solid food.
  4. 4
    A type of food, a dish.
  5. 5
    A meal.
  6. 6
    Meal; flour.
  7. 7
    Any relatively thick, solid part of a fruit, nut etc.
  8. 8
    A penis.
  9. 9
    The best or most substantial part of something.
  10. 10
    The sweet spot of a bat or club (in cricket, golf, baseball etc.).
  11. 11
    A meathead.
  12. 12
    A totem, or (by metonymy) a clan or clansman which uses it.

Etymology

From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati, from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Miit (“meat”), Danish mad (“food”), Faroese and Icelandic matur (“food, meal”), Norn mader (“food”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish mat (“food”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats, “food”). A -ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), from which Dutch met (“minced pork”) and German Mett (“minced meat”) derive, respectively. Compare also Old Irish mess (“animal feed”) and Welsh mes (“acorns”), English mast (“fodder for swine and other animals”), which are probably from the same root.

Synonyms

meatflesh

This word in other languages

carne(Español)viande(Français)Fleisch(Deutsch)carne(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: emat,maet,meatt,meta,mmeat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of meat - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

emat2maet2meatt1meta2mmeat1
Edit distance from "meat"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "meat"?
"meat" is spelled M-E-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /miːt/.
What does "meat" mean?
As a noun, "meat" means: The flesh (muscle tissue) of an animal used as food, or a food designed to replicate its taste and texture (like plant-based meat).
What words are commonly confused with "meat"?
"meat" is commonly confused with "MT", "men", "met". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "meat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "meat" is /miːt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "meat"?
From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati, from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Miit (“meat”), Dani... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “meat”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-E-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /miːt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “MT” - see the side-by-side comparison. meat vs MT
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list