mer vs mix, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,090
“mer” frequency rank: #4,744
“mix” frequency rank: 26834
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mer	mix
Definition	mar	mistura

Letter map: mer vs mix

Shared letters muted; letters that set mer and mix apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

mer

3 ch

mix

Pair insight - mer / mix

mer and mix are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26834, 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/. mix is at rank #4,744, tagged as anoun.

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 26834, this pair ranks #42,257 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mer vs mix

Shared letters: m. Private to "mer": er. Private to "mix": ix.

"mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mix" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mer" for "mix" ever safe?

No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "mer" or "mix"?

"mix" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,744 in our Portuguese list, against #22,090 for "mer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mer" and "mix".

Full dictionary entry for "mer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "mix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #42,257 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"mer" and "mix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #42,257 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.