meshvsmetaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,032
“mesh” frequency rank
#2,523
“meta” frequency rank
45555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesh meta
Definition interstício alvo, objetivo

Where the eye mixes mesh and meta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mesh
4 ch
meta

Why the eye confuses mesh with meta

A purely visual mix-up. mesh (/ˈmɛʃ/) and meta (/ˈmɛ.tɐ/) 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 45555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mesh is recorded at frequency rank #43,032, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛʃ/. meta is at rank #2,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.tɐ/.

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 45555, this pair ranks #19,830 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mesh vs meta

Shared letters: em. Private to "mesh": hs. Private to "meta": at.

"mesh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "meta" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meshemsh · mehs · meshh · messh · mmesh · mseh
  • metaemta · meat · metta · mmeta · mtea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mesh" for "meta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɛʃ/ versus /ˈmɛ.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mesh" vs "meta" - which ranks higher?
"meta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,523 in our Portuguese list, against #43,032 for "mesh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mesh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,830 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mesh" and "meta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mesh vs muso". 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 #19,830 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