mesesvsmesseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#366
“meses” frequency rank
#44,487
“messe” frequency rank
44853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meses messe
Definition plural de mês lugar no qual os sargentos ou oficiais se concentram com finalidade de refeiçoar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meses and messe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
meses
5 ch
messe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

meses and messe 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 only by swapping two adjacent letters (es ↔ se) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meses is recorded at frequency rank #366, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈme.zis/. messe is at rank #44,487, 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 44853, this pair ranks #20,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meses vs messe

Shared letters: ems. Private to "meses": -. Private to "messe": -.

"meses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "messe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mesesemses · meess · mesess · messes · mmeses · msees
  • messeemsse · mese · mmesse · msese

Frequency comparison

meses#366
messe#44,487

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meses" and "messe" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (es ↔ se) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "meses" or "messe"?
"meses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #366 in our Portuguese list, against #44,487 for "messe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering meses vs messe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “meses” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list