Which to use
“mercê” and “mercy” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,186
- “mercê” frequency rank
- #16,818
- “mercy” frequency rank
- 31004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mercê | mercy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | paga, soldada, preço ou recompensa por algum trabalho ou serviço | misericórdia |
Letter map: mercê vs mercy
Shared letters muted; letters that set mercê and mercy apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. mercê and mercy follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Spelling & dictionary notes on mercê vs mercy
mercê and mercy 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 differ by a single letter - ê in “mercê” becomes y in “mercy”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mercê is recorded at frequency rank #14,186, classified as anoun. mercy is at rank #16,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɜrsi/.
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 31004, this pair ranks #37,221 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mercê vs mercy
Shared letters: cemr. Private to "mercê": ê. Private to "mercy": y.
"mercê" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mercy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mercy ← emrcy · mecry · merccy · mercyy · merrcy · meryc · mmercy · mrecy
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mercê" and "mercy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mercê" vs "mercy" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "mercê" vs "mercy" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "mercê" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mercy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #37,221 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mercê" and "mercy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mercê vs messe". 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 #37,221 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.