merry vs metro, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“merry” is an adjective and “metro” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,156
“merry” frequency rank: #1,905
“metro” frequency rank: 38061
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	merry	metro
Definition	Alegre, feliz.	Unidad de longitud del Sistema Internacional de Unidades equivalente a la distancia recorrida por la luz en un tiempo de 1/299.792.458 de segundo.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

merry

5 ch

metro

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: merry is /ˈmɛ.ɹi/ while metro is [ˈmet̪ɾo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

merry is recorded at frequency rank #36,156, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɛ.ɹi/. metro is at rank #1,905, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmet̪ɾo].

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 38061, this pair ranks #172,041 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of merry vs metro

Shared letters: emr. Private to "merry": y. Private to "metro": ot.

"merry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "metro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

merry ← emrry · merryy · mery · meryr · mmerry · mrery
metro ← emtro · merto · metor · metrro · mettro · mmetro · mtero

Frequency comparison

merry#36,156

metro#1,905

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "merry" and "metro" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "merry" is an adjective and "metro" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "merry" or "metro"?

"metro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,905 in our Spanish list, against #36,156 for "merry". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering merry vs metro

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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