mensvsmêsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,487
“mens” frequency rank
#444
“mês” frequency rank
47931
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mens mês
Definition pessoa, humano, homem cada uma das doze partes em que se divide o ano

Where the eye mixes mens and mês

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mens
3 ch
mês

Look-alike desk: mens vs mês

A purely visual mix-up. mens ([ mɛns ]) and mês (/ˈmeʃ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mens is recorded at frequency rank #47,487, classified as anoun, pronounced [ mɛns ]. 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 47931, this pair ranks #17,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mens vs mês

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mens": en. Private to "mês": ê.

"mens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mês" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mensemns · menns · menss · mesn · mmens · mnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mens" and "mês" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ mɛns ] versus /ˈmeʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mens" or "mês"?
"mês" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Portuguese list, against #47,487 for "mens". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mês" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mens" and "mês" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mens vs messe". 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 #17,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list