mesasvsmesmoConfusable pair

Quick tell: mesas is a noun, mesmo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,789
“mesas” frequency rank
#56
“mesmo” frequency rank
6845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesas mesmo
Definition plural de mesa: que tem igualdade de caráter

Where the eye mixes mesas and mesmo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mesas
5 ch
mesmo

Look-alike desk: mesas vs mesmo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mesas is /ˈme.zɐs/ while mesmo is /ˈmeʒ.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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mesas is recorded at frequency rank #6,789, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈme.zɐs/. mesmo is at rank #56, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmeʒ.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 6845, this pair ranks #67,468 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mesas vs mesmo

Shared letters: ems. Private to "mesas": a. Private to "mesmo": o.

"mesas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mesmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mesasemsas · meass · mesass · messas · mmesas · mseas
  • mesmoemsmo · memso · mesmmo · mesom · messmo · mmesmo · msemo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mesas" and "mesmo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mesas" is a noun and "mesmo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mesas" vs "mesmo" - which ranks higher?
"mesmo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #56 in our Portuguese list, against #6,789 for "mesas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mesas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesmo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,468 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mesas" and "mesmo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mens vs mesas". 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 #67,468 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