mentevsmetaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#990
“mente” frequency rank
#2,523
“meta” frequency rank
3513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mente meta
Definition conjunto das ideias e convicções de uma pessoa; o resultado do trabalho cerebral de uma pessoal, intangível mas perceptível em sua forma de raciocinar alvo, objetivo

Where the eye mixes mente and meta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mente
4 ch
meta

Visual trap between mente and meta

A purely visual mix-up. mente (/ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/) and meta (/ˈmɛ.tɐ/) 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 3513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mente is recorded at frequency rank #990, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/. meta is at rank #2,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.tɐ/.

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 3513, this pair ranks #71,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mente vs meta

Shared letters: emt. Private to "mente": n. Private to "meta": a.

"mente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "meta" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • menteemnte · menet · mennte · mentte · metne · mmente · mnete
  • metaemta · meat · metta · mmeta · mtea

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mente" and "meta" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/ versus /ˈmɛ.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mente" or "meta" show up more?
"mente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #990 in our Portuguese list, against #2,523 for "meta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mente" and "meta" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mente" and "meta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs meta". 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 #71,626 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