meu vs muy, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“meu” is a verb and “muy” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,580
“meu” frequency rank: #37,935
“muy” frequency rank: 82515
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	meu	muy
Definition	Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe movoir.	Très.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

meu

3 ch

muy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meu is \məˈy\ while muy is \ˈmuj\. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meu is recorded at frequency rank #44,580, classified as averb, pronounced \məˈy\. muy is at rank #37,935, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ˈmuj\.

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 82515, this pair ranks #16,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of meu vs muy

Shared letters: mu. Private to "meu": e. Private to "muy": y.

"meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "muy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

meu#44,580

muy#37,935

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meu" and "muy" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meu" is a verb and "muy" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "meu" or "muy"?

"muy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,935 in our French list, against #44,580 for "meu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering meu vs muy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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