mete
/miːt/verb, noun
mete is spelled M-E-T-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, mete means “To dispense, measure in order to dispense, allot (especially punishment, reward etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in mete?
| Letters | 4: M-E-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 58,714th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mete?
Mete appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mete?
- /miːt/
Mete has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mete.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mete
Sounds like: meat, meet (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: meet.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mete?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as mete.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: meet, teem, teme.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mete
- metes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- meting participle, present
- meted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mete mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To dispense, measure in order to dispense, allot (especially punishment, reward etc.).
the Power that fashions man Measured not out thy little span For thee to take the meting-rod In turn,
noun
- 1
A boundary or other limit; a boundary-marker; mere.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mete in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mete come from?
From Middle English meten, from Old English metan (“to measure, mete out, mark off, compare, estimate; pass over, traverse”), from Proto-West Germanic *metan, from Proto-Germanic *metaną (“to measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure, consider”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).