merecesvsmerecióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,839
“mereces” frequency rank
#24,567
“mereció” frequency rank
33406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mereces mereció
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de merecer o de merecerse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de merecer o de merecerse.

Where the eye mixes mereces and mereció

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
mereces
7 ch
mereció

Why the eye confuses mereces with mereció

A purely visual mix-up. mereces ([meˈɾeses]) and mereció ([meɾeˈsjo]) 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 33406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mereces is recorded at frequency rank #8,839, classified as averb, pronounced [meˈɾeses]. mereció is at rank #24,567, tagged as averb, pronounced [meɾeˈsjo].

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 33406, this pair ranks #196,980 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mereces vs mereció

Shared letters: cemr. Private to "mereces": s. Private to "mereció": .

"mereces" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "mereció" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • merecesemreces · meerces · mercees · merecces · merecess · merecse · mereecs · mereses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mereces" and "mereció" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([meˈɾeses] versus [meɾeˈsjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mereces" vs "mereció" - which ranks higher?
"mereces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,839 in our Spanish list, against #24,567 for "mereció". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mereces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mereció" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #196,980 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mereces" and "mereció" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "merecías vs mereció". 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 #196,980 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