late
[ˈlat̪e]
The verdict
“late” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #11,077 in Spanish word frequency and used as a verb.
- #11,077
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de latir.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | late |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈlat̪e] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #11,077 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “late” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for late is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈlat̪e]. Corpus data places it at rank #11,077 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for late, with forms such as "alte", "laet", and "latte". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "law", "let", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is late, spelled L-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de latir.
- 2Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de latir.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alte,laet,latte,llate,ltae
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of late - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “late”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is L-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈlat̪e] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “le” - see the side-by-side comparison. late vs le
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.