Which to use
“mesas” and “metas” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,789
- “mesas” frequency rank
- #6,791
- “metas” frequency rank
- 13580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mesas | metas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural de mesa: | plural de meta |
Where the eye mixes mesas and metas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mesas and metas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mesas with metas
A purely visual mix-up. mesas (/ˈme.zɐs/) and metas (/ˈmɛ.tɐs/) 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 a single letter - s in “mesas” becomes t in “metas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13580, 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/. metas is at rank #6,791, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.tɐs/.
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 13580, this pair ranks #58,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mesas vs metas
Shared letters: aems. Private to "mesas": -. Private to "metas": t.
"mesas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "metas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mesas" and "metas" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mesas" or "metas" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mesas" and "metas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mesas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "metas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mesas" and "metas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mens vs metas". 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 #58,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.