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 eye mixes medir and mer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. medir runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against mer's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses medir with mer
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "medir" and "mer" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "medir" or "mer"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "medir" and "mer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "medir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,083 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "medir" and "mer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mer". 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 #39,083 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.