mediarvsmedirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mediar” and “medir” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,080
“mediar” frequency rank
#7,434
“medir” frequency rank
40514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mediar medir
Definition o mesmo que mear ter como medida

Where the eye mixes mediar and medir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mediar runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against medir's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mediar
5 ch
medir

Why the eye confuses mediar with medir

A purely visual mix-up. mediar (/mɨ.ˈdjaɾ/) and medir (/mɨ.ˈdiɾ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40514, 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/. medir is at rank #7,434, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɨ.ˈdiɾ/.

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 40514, this pair ranks #25,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mediar vs medir

Shared letters: deimr. Private to "mediar": a. Private to "medir": -.

"mediar" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "medir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mediar ← emdiar · mdeiar · medair · meddiar · mediarr · medira · meidar · mmediar
  • medir ← emdir · mdeir · meddir · medirr · medri · meidr · mmedir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mediar" and "medir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɨ.ˈdjaɾ/ versus /mɨ.ˈdiɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mediar" or "medir"?
"medir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,434 in our Portuguese list, against #33,080 for "mediar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mediar" and "medir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mediar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "medir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mediar" and "medir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mediar vs mendigar". 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 #25,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list