meuvsmouConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#44,860
“meu” frequency rank
#46,072
“mou” frequency rank
90932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meu mou
Definition Mi. Blando.

Where the eye mixes meu and mou

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. meu and mou follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
meu
3 ch
mou

Visual trap between meu and mou

A purely visual mix-up. meu ([ˈmew]) and mou ([mu]) 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 a single letter - e in “meu” becomes o in “mou”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meu is recorded at frequency rank #44,860, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmew]. mou is at rank #46,072, tagged as anadj, pronounced [mu].

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 90932, this pair ranks #2,257 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of meu vs mou

Shared letters: mu. Private to "meu": e. Private to "mou": o.

"meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "meu" for "mou" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmew] versus [mu]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "meu" vs "mou" - which ranks higher?
"meu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,860 in our Spanish list, against #46,072 for "mou". 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 "meu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,257 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meu" and "mou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mou vs mur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,257 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