Which to use
“mean” is an adjective and “melão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,388
- “mean” frequency rank
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- 36242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mean | melão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | maldoso, mau, cruel | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo |
Where the eye mixes mean and melão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mean runs 4 letters (CVVC) against melão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mean vs melão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mean is /ˈmiːn/ while melão is /mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mean is recorded at frequency rank #18,388, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmiːn/. melão is at rank #17,854, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 36242, this pair ranks #30,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mean vs melão
Shared letters: em. Private to "mean": an. Private to "melão": loã.
"mean" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mean ← eman · maen · meann · mena · mmean
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mean" and "melão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mean" or "melão" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mean" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "melão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mean" and "melão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mean". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #30,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.