medir vs mer, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,434
“medir” frequency rank: #22,090
“mer” frequency rank: 29524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	medir	mer
Definition	ter como medida	mar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set medir and mer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

medir

3 ch

mer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: medir is /mɨ.ˈdiɾ/ while mer is /mɛʁ/. 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 29524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

medir is recorded at frequency rank #7,434, classified as averb, pronounced /mɨ.ˈdiɾ/. mer is at rank #22,090, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɛʁ/.

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 29524, this pair ranks #39,083 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of medir vs mer

Shared letters: emr. Private to "medir": di. Private to "mer": -.

"medir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

medir ← emdir · mdeir · meddir · medirr · medri · meidr · mmedir

Frequency comparison

medir#7,434

mer#22,090

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "medir" and "mer" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "medir" or "mer"?

"medir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,434 in our Portuguese list, against #22,090 for "mer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering medir vs mer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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