melavsmetíaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#38,235
“mela” frequency rank
#18,897
“metía” frequency rank
57132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mela metía
Definition Manzana. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de meter o de meterse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mela and metía apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
mela
5 ch
metía

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mela is [ˈme.la] while metía is [meˈt̪ia]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57132, 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]. metía is at rank #18,897, tagged as averb, pronounced [meˈt̪ia].

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 57132, this pair ranks #71,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mela vs metía

Shared letters: aem. Private to "mela": l. Private to "metía": .

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • melaemla · meal · mlea · mmela

Frequency comparison

mela#38,235
metía#18,897

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mela" and "metía" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mela" is a noun and "metía" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mela" or "metía"?
"metía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,897 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.

Remembering mela vs metía

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mela”; for a verb, it's “metía”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mela” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list