mêsvsMistConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#444
“mês” frequency rank
#44,978
“Mist” frequency rank
45422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mês Mist
Definition cada uma das doze partes em que se divide o ano esterco

Where the eye mixes mês and Mist

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

3 ch
mês
4 ch
Mist

Look-alike desk: mês vs Mist

A purely visual mix-up. mês (/ˈmeʃ/) and Mist (/mɪst/) 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 45422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mês is recorded at frequency rank #444, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeʃ/. Mist is at rank #44,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɪst/.

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 45422, this pair ranks #19,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mês vs Mist

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mês": ê. Private to "Mist": it.

"mês" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Mist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mistimst · misst · mistt · mits · mmist · msit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mês" and "Mist" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmeʃ/ versus /mɪst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mês" or "Mist" show up more?
"mês" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Portuguese list, against #44,978 for "Mist". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "mês" and "Mist" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mês" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mês" and "Mist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mist 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 #19,979 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