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 eye mixes meses and metas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. meses and metas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: meses vs metas
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meses" for "metas" ever safe?
Frequency check: "meses" vs "metas" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "meses" 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 #67,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meses" 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 #67,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.