mearvsmesaConfusable pair

Quick tell: mear is a verb, mesa is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mear” is a verb and “mesa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,484
“mear” frequency rank
#1,058
“mesa” frequency rank
18542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mear mesa
Definition Evacuar del organismo la orina u otra secreción a través de la uretra. Mueble que consta de una superficie plana y horizontal sostenida por patas.

Where the eye mixes mear and mesa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mear
4 ch
mesa

Look-alike desk: mear vs mesa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mear is [meˈaɾ] while mesa is [ˈmesa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mear is recorded at frequency rank #17,484, classified as averb, pronounced [meˈaɾ]. mesa is at rank #1,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmesa].

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 18542, this pair ranks #267,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mear vs mesa

Shared letters: aem. Private to "mear": r. Private to "mesa": s.

"mear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mearemar · maer · mearr · mmear
  • mesaemsa · meas · messa · mmesa · msea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mear" for "mesa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mear" is a verb and "mesa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mear" vs "mesa" - which ranks higher?
"mesa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,058 in our Spanish list, against #17,484 for "mear". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mear" and "mesa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mear vs mur". 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 #267,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list