mer vs mês, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,090
“mer” frequency rank: #444
“mês” frequency rank: 22534
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mer	mês
Definition	mar	cada uma das doze partes em que se divide o ano

Where the eye mixes mer and mês

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

mer

3 ch

mês

Why the eye confuses mer with mês

A purely visual mix-up. mer (/mɛʁ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mer is recorded at frequency rank #22,090, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɛʁ/. 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 22534, this pair ranks #47,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mer vs mês

Shared letters: m. Private to "mer": er. Private to "mês": sê.

"mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mês" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mer" and "mês" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/mɛʁ/ versus /ˈmeʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "mer" vs "mês" - which ranks higher?

"mês" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Portuguese list, against #22,090 for "mer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "mer" 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 #47,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"mer" and "mês" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #47,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.