mervsmuroConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,090
“mer” frequency rank
#4,664
“muro” frequency rank
26754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mer muro
Definition mar construção comumente usada para separar terrenos

Where the eye mixes mer and muro

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

3 ch
mer
4 ch
muro

Why the eye confuses mer with muro

A purely visual mix-up. mer (/mɛʁ/) and muro (/ˈmu.ɾu/) 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 26754, 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/. muro is at rank #4,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmu.ɾu/.

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 26754, this pair ranks #42,336 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mer vs muro

Shared letters: mr. Private to "mer": e. Private to "muro": ou.

"mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "muro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • murommuro · mruo · muor · umro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mer" and "muro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɛʁ/ versus /ˈmu.ɾu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mer" vs "muro" - which ranks higher?
"muro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,664 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "muro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,336 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mer" and "muro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mer". 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 #42,336 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