meet

/miːt/

//miːt// verb

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

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

The verdict

“meet” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #544 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#544
frequency rank, English
4
letters
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

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

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

Key facts for meet
PropertyValue
Headwordmeet
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/miːt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#544
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “meet” 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). meet 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 meet is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /miːt/. Corpus data places it at rank #544 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for meet, with forms such as "emet", "meett", and "mete". 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, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English meten, from Old English mētan (“to meet, find, encounter”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōtijan (“to meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to come, meet”). Cognates Cognate with Scots met, me… The correct English form is meet, spelled M-E-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.
  2. 2
    To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.
  3. 3
    To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.
  4. 4
    To come together.
  5. 5
    To come together.
  6. 6
    To come together.
  7. 7
    To make physical or perceptual contact.
  8. 8
    To make physical or perceptual contact.
  9. 9
    To make physical or perceptual contact.
  10. 10
    To make physical or perceptual contact.
  11. 11
    To satisfy; to comply with.
  12. 12
    To balance or come out correct.
  13. 13
    To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.
  14. 14
    To be mixed with, to be combined with aspects of.

Etymology

From Middle English meten, from Old English mētan (“to meet, find, encounter”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōtijan (“to meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to come, meet”). Cognates Cognate with Scots met, mete, meit (“to meet”), North Frisian meet, mätje, möt (“to meet”), West Frisian mette, moetsje (“to meet”), Dutch ontmoeten (“to meet”), Low German möten (“to meet”), Danish møde (“to meet”), Elfdalian my̨öt (“to meet”), Faroese møta (“to meet”), Icelandic mæta (“to meet”), Norwegian Bokmål møte (“to meet”), Norwegian Nynorsk møta, møte (“to meet”), Swedish möta (“to meet”). Related to moot.

This word in other languages

encontrar(Español)rencontrer(Français)treffen(Deutsch)encontrar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: emet,meett,mete,mmeet

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of meet - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

emet2meett1mete2mmeet1
Edit distance from "meet"

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 "meet"?
"meet" is spelled M-E-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is /miːt/.
What does "meet" mean?
As a verb, "meet" means: To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.
What words are commonly confused with "meet"?
"meet" 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 "meet"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "meet" 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 "meet"?
From Middle English meten, from Old English mētan (“to meet, find, encounter”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōtijan (“to meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to come, meet”). Cognates Cognate with Sco... 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 “meet”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is M-E-E-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. meet 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