meio vs mesh, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“meio” is an adjective and “mesh” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#190
“meio” frequency rank: #43,032
“mesh” frequency rank: 43222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	meio	mesh
Definition	designativo de metade	interstício

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meio and mesh apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

meio

4 ch

mesh

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meio is /ˈmɐj.u/ while mesh is /ˈmɛʃ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meio is recorded at frequency rank #190, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɐj.u/. mesh is at rank #43,032, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛʃ/.

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 43222, this pair ranks #22,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meio vs mesh

Shared letters: em. Private to "meio": io. Private to "mesh": hs.

"meio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "mesh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

meio ← emio · meoi · mieo · mmeio
mesh ← emsh · mehs · meshh · messh · mmesh · mseh

Frequency comparison

meio#190

mesh#43,032

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meio" and "mesh" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meio" is an adjective and "mesh" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "meio" or "mesh"?

"meio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #190 in our Portuguese list, against #43,032 for "mesh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering meio vs mesh

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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