merovsmesónTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,756
“mero” frequency rank
#37,216
“mesón” frequency rank
44972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mero mesón
Definition (subfamilia Epinephelinae) Grupo de unos veinte géneros de peces teleósteos (de esquelo osificado) de cuerpo robusto, grandes mandíbulas armadas de muchos dientes y carne muy apreciada por su buen sabor. El cuerpo, de forma achatada, puede llegar a un metro de longitud, con colores desde amarillento hasta rojizo. Muchos viven en el mar Mediterráneo. 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 mero and mesón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mero runs 4 letters (CVCV) against mesón's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mero
5 ch
mesón

Look-alike desk: mero vs mesón

A purely visual mix-up. mero ([ˈmeɾo]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mero is recorded at frequency rank #7,756, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeɾo]. 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 44972, this pair ranks #134,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mero vs mesón

Shared letters: em. Private to "mero": or. Private to "mesón": nsó.

"mero" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mesón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mero ← emro · meor · merro · mmero · mreo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mero" for "mesón" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmeɾo] versus [meˈsõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mero" vs "mesón" - which ranks higher?
"mero" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,756 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mero" 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 #134,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mero" and "mesón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mesón vs mirón". 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 #134,043 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