mesavsmestraConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,364
“mesa” frequency rank
#21,241
“mestra” frequency rank
22605
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesa mestra
Definition móvel usado como superfície para se alimentar, conversar, estudar; távola abelha-rainha de uma colmeia

Letter map: mesa vs mestra

Shared letters muted; letters that set mesa and mestra apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. mesa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against mestra's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mesa
6 ch
mestra

Spelling & dictionary notes on mesa vs mestra

mesa and mestra 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mesa is recorded at frequency rank #1,364, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈme.zɐ/. mestra is at rank #21,241, tagged as anoun.

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 22605, this pair ranks #47,411 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mesa vs mestra

Shared letters: aems. Private to "mesa": -. Private to "mestra": rt.

"mesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mestra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mesa ← emsa · meas · messa · mmesa · msea
  • mestra ← emstra · mesrta · messtra · mestar · mestrra · mesttra · metsra · mmestra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mesa" and "mestra" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mesa" vs "mestra" - which ranks higher?
"mesa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,364 in our Portuguese list, against #21,241 for "mestra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "mesa" vs "mestra" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mesa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mestra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,411 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mesa" and "mestra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mestra vs mitra". 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 #47,411 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