mediar vs medida, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mediar” is a verb and “medida” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,080
“mediar” frequency rank: #1,014
“medida” frequency rank: 34094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mediar	medida
Definition	o mesmo que mear	determinada grandeza que serve de padrão para avaliar outra

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mediar and medida apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

mediar

6 ch

medida

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mediar is /mɨ.ˈdjaɾ/ while medida is /mɨ.ˈdi.dɐ/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mediar is recorded at frequency rank #33,080, classified as averb, pronounced /mɨ.ˈdjaɾ/. medida is at rank #1,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈdi.dɐ/.

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 34094, this pair ranks #33,269 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mediar vs medida

Shared letters: adeim. Private to "mediar": r. Private to "medida": -.

"mediar" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "medida" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

mediar ← emdiar · mdeiar · medair · meddiar · mediarr · medira · meidar · mmediar
medida ← emdida · mdeida · meddia · meddida · mediad · medidda · meidda · mmedida

Frequency comparison

mediar#33,080

medida#1,014

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mediar" and "medida" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mediar" is a verb and "medida" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "mediar" or "medida"?

"medida" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,014 in our Portuguese list, against #33,080 for "mediar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mediar vs medida

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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