meivsmemoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mei is a conjunction, memo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mei” is a conjunction and “memo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,392
“mei” frequency rank
#49,793
“memo” frequency rank
71185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mei memo
Definition Ni (liaison simple). Mémo, aide-mémoire.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mei and memo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
mei
4 ch
memo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mei is \ˈmɛi\ while memo is \ˈmɛm.əʊ̯\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mei is recorded at frequency rank #21,392, classified as aconj, pronounced \ˈmɛi\. memo is at rank #49,793, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmɛm.əʊ̯\.

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 71185, this pair ranks #48,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mei vs memo

Shared letters: em. Private to "mei": i. Private to "memo": o.

"mei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "memo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • memoemmo · memmo · meom · mmemo · mmeo

Frequency comparison

mei#21,392
memo#49,793

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mei" and "memo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mei" is a conjunction and "memo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mei" or "memo"?
"mei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,392 in our French list, against #49,793 for "memo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mei vs memo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list