mediavsmelaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“media” and “mela” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#552
“media” frequency rank
#38,235
“mela” frequency rank
38787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature media mela
Definition Mitad de alguna cosa o período ya mentado. Manzana.

Where the eye mixes media and mela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. media runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against mela's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
media
4 ch
mela

Why the eye confuses media with mela

A purely visual mix-up. media ([ˈmeð̞ja]) and mela ([ˈme.la]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

media is recorded at frequency rank #552, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeð̞ja]. mela is at rank #38,235, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈme.la].

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 38787, this pair ranks #168,073 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of media vs mela

Shared letters: aem. Private to "media": di. Private to "mela": l.

"media" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "mela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • media ← emdia · mdeia · medai · meddia · meida · mmedia
  • mela ← emla · meal · mlea · mmela

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "media" and "mela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmeð̞ja] versus [ˈme.la]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "media" vs "mela" - which ranks higher?
"media" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #552 in our Spanish list, against #38,235 for "mela". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "media" and "mela" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "media" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #168,073 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "media" and "mela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mela vs melaza". 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 #168,073 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