leal
/liːl/
"leal" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“leal” is uncommon English (frequency #61,585 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,585
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Loyal, honest.
Corpus desk
Index EN-leal · leal · English
leal · rank #61,585 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #61,585
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH LDA
Nearest frequency peer: LDA (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “leal”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Lashkar
Lashkar
38,419 corpus weight
- LDA
LDA
38,417 corpus weight
- leal
leal
38,416 corpus weight
- learnings
learnings
38,415 corpus weight
- legalistic
legalistic
38,414 corpus weight
- Legge
Legge
38,413 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “leal” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | leal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /liːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #61,585 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “leal” in English
Rare enough to double-check
leal is uncommon English at frequency #61,585 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /liːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for leal, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal. The correct English form is leal, spelled L-E-A-L.
Definition
- 1Loyal, honest.
- 2True, genuine.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how leal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Mr Toots, like the leal and trusty soul he was, stopped the cabriolet in a twinkling, and told Susan Nipper of his commission, at which she cried more than before.
We thank you for the pure white fire of his goodness, for the red sword of justice in his hand, for the love he bears his leal people.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "leal", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).