mediar vs meia, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#33,080
“mediar” frequency rank: #1,054
“meia” frequency rank: 34134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mediar	meia
Definition	o mesmo que mear	peça de vestuário de tecido de malha que se calça sobre a pele até meio da perna

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mediar and meia apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

mediar

4 ch

meia

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mediar is /mɨ.ˈdjaɾ/ while meia is /ˈmɐj.ɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34134, 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/. meia is at rank #1,054, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐj.ɐ/.

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 34134, this pair ranks #33,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mediar vs meia

Shared letters: aeim. Private to "mediar": dr. Private to "meia": -.

"mediar" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "meia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

mediar ← emdiar · mdeiar · medair · meddiar · mediarr · medira · meidar · mmediar
meia ← emia · meai · miea · mmeia

Frequency comparison

mediar#33,080

meia#1,054

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"meia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,054 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 meia

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 “meia”.
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