medusavsmesuraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,837
“medusa” frequency rank
#41,485
“mesura” frequency rank
70322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature medusa mesura
Definition Organismo clasificados en el filo Cnidaria, pelágicos, de cuerpo gelatinoso, con forma de campana de la que cuelga un manubrio tubular, con la boca en su extremo inferior, a veces prolongado por largos tentáculos cargados con células urticantes llamados cnidoblastos. Gravedad, compostura.

Where the eye mixes medusa and mesura

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. medusa and mesura follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
medusa
6 ch
mesura

Visual trap between medusa and mesura

A purely visual mix-up. medusa ([meˈð̞usa]) and mesura ([meˈsuɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

medusa is recorded at frequency rank #28,837, classified as anoun, pronounced [meˈð̞usa]. mesura is at rank #41,485, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meˈsuɾa].

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 70322, this pair ranks #29,985 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of medusa vs mesura

Shared letters: aemsu. Private to "medusa": d. Private to "mesura": r.

"medusa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "mesura" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • medusaemdusa · mdeusa · meddusa · medsua · meduas · medussa · meudsa · mmedusa
  • mesuraemsura · mesrua · messura · mesuar · mesurra · meusra · mmesura · mseura

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "medusa" for "mesura" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([meˈð̞usa] versus [meˈsuɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "medusa" vs "mesura" - which ranks higher?
"medusa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,837 in our Spanish list, against #41,485 for "mesura". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "medusa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,985 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "medusa" and "mesura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mesera vs mesura". 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 #29,985 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