Which to use
“melão” and “metas” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- #6,791
- “metas” frequency rank
- 24645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melão | metas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo | plural de meta |
Where the eye mixes melão and metas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. melão (CVCVV) and metas (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses melão with metas
A purely visual mix-up. melão (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and metas (/ˈmɛ.tɐs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
melão is recorded at frequency rank #17,854, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. metas is at rank #6,791, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.tɐs/.
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 24645, this pair ranks #44,905 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melão vs metas
Shared letters: em. Private to "melão": loã. Private to "metas": ast.
"melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "metas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- metas ← emtas · meats · metass · metsa · mettas · mmetas · mteas
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "melão" and "metas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "melão" vs "metas" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "melão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "metas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,905 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melão" and "metas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melado vs melão". 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 #44,905 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.