mesavsmeuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mesa is a noun, meu is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mesa” is a noun and “meu” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,364
“mesa” frequency rank
#46
“meu” frequency rank
1410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesa meu
Definition móvel usado como superfície para se alimentar, conversar, estudar; távola de posse da primeira pessoa do singular (eu); pertencente a mim

Where the eye mixes mesa and meu

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

4 ch
mesa
3 ch
meu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mesa is /ˈme.zɐ/ while meu is /ˈmew/. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1410, 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/. meu is at rank #46, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈmew/.

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 1410, this pair ranks #74,169 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mesa vs meu

Shared letters: em. Private to "mesa": as. Private to "meu": u.

"mesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mesaemsa · meas · messa · mmesa · msea

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mesa" and "meu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mesa" is a noun and "meu" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mesa" or "meu"?
"meu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46 in our Portuguese list, against #1,364 for "mesa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "mesa" and "meu". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mesa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,169 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mesa" and "meu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mesa". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list