merovsmêsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mero is a adjective, mês is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mero” is an adjective and “mês” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,105
“mero” frequency rank
#444
“mês” frequency rank
12549
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mero mês
Definition simples cada uma das doze partes em que se divide o ano

Where the eye mixes mero and mês

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

4 ch
mero
3 ch
mês

Visual trap between mero and mês

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mero is /ˈmɛ.ɾu/ while mês is /ˈmeʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mero is recorded at frequency rank #12,105, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɛ.ɾu/. 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 12549, this pair ranks #59,988 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mero vs mês

Shared letters: m. Private to "mero": eor. Private to "mês": .

"mero" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mês" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meroemro · meor · merro · mmero · mreo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mero" and "mês" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mero" is an adjective and "mês" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mero" or "mês"?
"mês" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Portuguese list, against #12,105 for "mero". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mero" 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 #59,988 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mero" and "mês" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mero vs muso". 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 #59,988 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