mensalvsmesasTell them apart

Quick tell: mensal is a adjective, mesas is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,968
“mensal” frequency rank
#6,789
“mesas” frequency rank
12757
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mensal mesas
Definition relativo ao mês plural de mesa:

Where the eye mixes mensal and mesas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mensal runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mesas's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mensal
5 ch
mesas

Visual trap between mensal and mesas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mensal is /mẽ.ˈsaɫ/ while mesas is /ˈme.zɐs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mensal is recorded at frequency rank #5,968, classified as anadj, pronounced /mẽ.ˈsaɫ/. mesas is at rank #6,789, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈme.zɐs/.

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 12757, this pair ranks #59,738 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mensal vs mesas

Shared letters: aems. Private to "mensal": ln. Private to "mesas": -.

"mensal" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mesas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mensal ← emnsal · menasl · mennsal · mensall · mensla · menssal · mesnal · mmensal
  • mesas ← emsas · meass · mesass · messas · mmesas · mseas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mensal" and "mesas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mensal" is an adjective and "mesas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mensal" vs "mesas" - which ranks higher?
"mensal" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,968 in our Portuguese list, against #6,789 for "mesas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mensal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,738 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mensal" and "mesas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mens vs mesas". 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 #59,738 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