merovsmimoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#12,105
“mero” frequency rank
#22,094
“mimo” frequency rank
34199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mero mimo
Definition simples coisa delicada que dá ou se oferece; presente

Where the eye mixes mero and mimo

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

4 ch
mero
4 ch
mimo

Why the eye confuses mero with mimo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mero is /ˈmɛ.ɾu/ while mimo is /ˈmi.mu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34199, 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/. mimo is at rank #22,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmi.mu/.

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 34199, this pair ranks #33,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mero vs mimo

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mero": er. Private to "mimo": i.

"mero" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mimo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meroemro · meor · merro · mmero · mreo
  • mimoimmo · mimmo · miom · mmimo · mmio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mero" and "mimo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mero" is an adjective and "mimo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mero" or "mimo" show up more?
"mero" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,105 in our Portuguese list, against #22,094 for "mimo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mimo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mero" and "mimo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mimo 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 #33,134 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