melavsmenúConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,235
“mela” frequency rank
#9,322
“menú” frequency rank
47557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mela menú
Definition Manzana. Colección de alimentos que se incluyen en una comida.

Where the eye mixes mela and menú

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mela
4 ch
menú

Visual trap between mela and menú

A purely visual mix-up. mela ([ˈme.la]) and menú ([meˈnu]) 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 47557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mela is recorded at frequency rank #38,235, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈme.la]. menú is at rank #9,322, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meˈnu].

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 47557, this pair ranks #119,390 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mela vs menú

Shared letters: em. Private to "mela": al. Private to "menú": .

"mela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "menú" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • melaemla · meal · mlea · mmela

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mela" and "menú" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈme.la] versus [meˈnu]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mela" vs "menú" - which ranks higher?
"menú" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,322 in our Spanish list, against #38,235 for "mela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "menú" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,390 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mela" and "menú" 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 #119,390 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