mesónvsmisiónTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,216
“mesón” frequency rank
#1,323
“misión” frequency rank
38539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesón misión
Definition Establecimiento comercial antiguo o rústico destinado al hospedaje de viajeros y el expendio de bebida y comida para consumir en las propias instalaciones. Encargo especial que se da a uno para que desempeñe algún negocio.

Where the eye mixes mesón and misión

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mesón runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against misión's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mesón
6 ch
misión

Visual trap between mesón and misión

A purely visual mix-up. mesón ([meˈsõn]) and misión ([miˈsjõn]) 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 38539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mesón is recorded at frequency rank #37,216, classified as anoun, pronounced [meˈsõn]. misión is at rank #1,323, tagged as anoun, pronounced [miˈsjõn].

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 38539, this pair ranks #169,452 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mesón vs misión

Shared letters: mnsó. Private to "mesón": e. Private to "misión": i.

"mesón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "misión" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mesón" for "misión" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([meˈsõn] versus [miˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mesón" vs "misión" - which ranks higher?
"misión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,323 in our Spanish list, against #37,216 for "mesón". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mesón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "misión" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,452 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mesón" and "misión" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mesón vs mirón". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #169,452 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