menvsmêsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: men is a pronoun, mês is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“men” is a pronoun and “mês” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,318
“men” frequency rank
#444
“mês” frequency rank
6762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature men mês
Definition pronome indefinido da terceira pessoa do singular, equivalente à partícula "se" cada uma das doze partes em que se divide o ano

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set men and mês apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
men
3 ch
mês

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

men and mês form a confusable pair in the Portuguese index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

men is recorded at frequency rank #6,318, classified as apron. mês is at rank #444, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeʃ/.

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 6762, this pair ranks #67,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

men#6,318
mês#444

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "men" and "mês" be used interchangeably?
No, "men" and "mês" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering men vs mês

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “men”; for a noun, it's “mês”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “men” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list