leu
/ˈleɪ.uː/
"leu" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“leu” is uncommon English (frequency #55,554 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,554
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The unit of currency of Romania, equal to one hundred bani.
Corpus desk
Index EN-leu · leu · English
leu · rank #55,554 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,554
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH lifer
Nearest frequency peer: lifer (+3 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 “leu”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Lani
Lani
44,453 corpus weight
- layed
layed
44,452 corpus weight
- leu
leu
44,447 corpus weight
- lifer
lifer
44,444 corpus weight
- lignite
lignite
44,443 corpus weight
- Linc
Linc
44,442 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “leu” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | leu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈleɪ.uː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #55,554 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “leu” in English
Rare enough to double-check
leu is uncommon English at frequency #55,554 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈleɪ.uː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for leu in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Romanian leu (“lion”), from Latin leō (“lion”). Doublet of Leo, lev, lion, and Lyon. The correct English form is leu, spelled L-E-U.
Definition
- 1The unit of currency of Romania, equal to one hundred bani.
- 2The unit of currency of Moldova, equal to one hundred bani.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how leu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Soon afterwards, it emerged that the Moldovan company Natural Gaz DC had signed a contract with Tiraspoltransgaz. Arkady Vikol, a co-owner of Natural Gaz DC, said the company planned to buy two to three million cubic metres of gas per day on European exchanges, generating around 3 million Moldovan lei per day (€150,000) in daily tax revenues for the Moldo…
Etymology
Borrowed from Romanian leu (“lion”), from Latin leō (“lion”). Doublet of Leo, lev, lion, and Lyon.
This word in other languages
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 "leu", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).