mesmovsmistoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#56
“mesmo” frequency rank
#8,789
“misto” frequency rank
8845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesmo misto
Definition que tem igualdade de caráter que não é puro

Where the eye mixes mesmo and misto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mesmo
5 ch
misto

Look-alike desk: mesmo vs misto

A purely visual mix-up. mesmo (/ˈmeʒ.mu/) and misto (/ˈmiʃ.tu/) 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 8845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mesmo is recorded at frequency rank #56, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmeʒ.mu/. misto is at rank #8,789, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmiʃ.tu/.

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 8845, this pair ranks #64,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mesmo vs misto

Shared letters: mos. Private to "mesmo": e. Private to "misto": it.

"mesmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "misto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mesmoemsmo · memso · mesmmo · mesom · messmo · mmesmo · msemo
  • mistoimsto · misot · missto · mistto · mitso · mmisto · msito

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mesmo" for "misto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmeʒ.mu/ versus /ˈmiʃ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mesmo" or "misto" show up more?
"mesmo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #56 in our Portuguese list, against #8,789 for "misto". 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 "mesmo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "misto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mesmo" and "misto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "misto 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 #64,787 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