melãovsmetroWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“melão” and “metro” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,854
“melão” frequency rank
#4,246
“metro” frequency rank
22100
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature melão metro
Definition o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo medida que regula a quantidade de sílabas de cada verso

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
melão
5 ch
metro

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. melão (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and metro (/ˈmɛ.tɾu/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22100, 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/. metro is at rank #4,246, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.tɾu/.

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 22100, this pair ranks #48,023 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of melão vs metro

Shared letters: emo. Private to "melão": . Private to "metro": rt.

"melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "metro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • metroemtro · merto · metor · metrro · mettro · mmetro · mtero

Frequency comparison

melão#17,854
metro#4,246

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "melão" and "metro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈmɛ.tɾu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "melão" or "metro"?
"metro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,246 in our Portuguese list, against #17,854 for "melão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering melão vs metro

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “melão” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list