meovsmesónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,894
“meo” frequency rank
#37,216
“mesón” frequency rank
56110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meo mesón
Definition Orina. Establecimiento comercial antiguo o rústico destinado al hospedaje de viajeros y el expendio de bebida y comida para consumir en las propias instalaciones.

Where the eye mixes meo and mesón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. meo runs 3 letters (CVV) against mesón's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
meo
5 ch
mesón

Look-alike desk: meo vs mesón

A purely visual mix-up. meo ([ˈmeo]) and mesón ([meˈsõn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meo is recorded at frequency rank #18,894, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeo]. mesón is at rank #37,216, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meˈsõn].

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 56110, this pair ranks #76,003 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of meo vs mesón

Shared letters: em. Private to "meo": o. Private to "mesón": nsó.

"meo" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mesón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meo" and "mesón" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmeo] versus [meˈsõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "meo" or "mesón"?
"meo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,894 in our Spanish list, against #37,216 for "mesón". 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 "meo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,003 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meo" and "mesón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mesón vs mirón". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #76,003 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