legalityvslocalityConfusable pair

Which to use

“legality” and “locality” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,886
“legality” frequency rank
#11,737
“locality” frequency rank
29623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legality locality
Definition Lawfulness. The fact or quality of having a position in space.

Where the eye mixes legality and locality

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
legality
8 ch
locality

Look-alike desk: legality vs locality

A purely visual mix-up. legality (/liˈɡælɪti/) and locality (/loʊˈkæl.ɪ.ti/) 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 29623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legality is recorded at frequency rank #17,886, classified as anoun, pronounced /liˈɡælɪti/. locality is at rank #11,737, tagged as anoun, pronounced /loʊˈkæl.ɪ.ti/.

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 29623, this pair ranks #361,427 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of legality vs locality

Shared letters: ailty. Private to "legality": eg. Private to "locality": co.

"legality" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "locality" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legalityelgality · leaglity · legailty · legalitty · legalityy · legaliyt · legallity · legaltiy
  • localitylcoality · llocality · loaclity · locailty · localitty · localityy · localiyt · locallity

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "legality" and "locality" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/liˈɡælɪti/ versus /loʊˈkæl.ɪ.ti/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "legality" or "locality"?
"locality" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,737 in our English list, against #17,886 for "legality". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legality" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "locality" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #361,427 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legality" and "locality" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "legality vs legalize". 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 #361,427 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list