meses vs metas, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#366
“meses” frequency rank: #6,791
“metas” frequency rank: 7157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	meses	metas
Definition	plural de mês	plural de meta

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meses and metas apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

meses

5 ch

metas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. meses (/ˈme.zis/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7157, 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/. 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 7157, this pair ranks #67,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of meses vs metas

Shared letters: ems. Private to "meses": -. Private to "metas": at.

"meses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "metas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

meses ← emses · meess · mesess · messes · mmeses · msees
metas ← emtas · meats · metass · metsa · mettas · mmetas · mteas

Frequency comparison

meses#366

metas#6,791

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meses" and "metas" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈme.zis/ versus /ˈmɛ.tɐs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "meses" or "metas"?

"meses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #366 in our Portuguese list, against #6,791 for "metas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering meses vs metas

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