mepavsmetanWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mepa is a contraction, metan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mepa” is a contraction and “metan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,448
“mepa” frequency rank
#12,425
“metan” frequency rank
57873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mepa metan
Definition Contracción de me y parece. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de meter o de meterse.

Where the eye mixes mepa and metan

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

4 ch
mepa
5 ch
metan

Look-alike desk: mepa vs metan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mepa is [ˈmepa] while metan is [ˈmet̪ãn]. 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 (contraction vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mepa is recorded at frequency rank #45,448, classified as acontraction, pronounced [ˈmepa]. metan is at rank #12,425, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmet̪ãn].

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 57873, this pair ranks #68,715 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mepa vs metan

Shared letters: aem. Private to "mepa": p. Private to "metan": nt.

"mepa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "metan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mepa ← empa · meap · meppa · mmepa · mpea
  • metan ← emtan · meatn · metann · metna · mettan · mmetan · mtean

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mepa" for "metan" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mepa" is a contraction and "metan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mepa" vs "metan" - which ranks higher?
"metan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,425 in our Spanish list, against #45,448 for "mepa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mepa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "metan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,715 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mepa" and "metan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mepa vs mop". 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 #68,715 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