lei

[ˈlej]

/[ˈlej]/ noun

The verdict

“lei” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #9,485) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#9,485
frequency rank, Spanish
2,069
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Corona de flores que adorna el cuello y que se obsequia al llegar o marchar como símbolo de afecto.

Corpus desk

Index ES-lei · lei · Spanish

lei · rank #9,485 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,485
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,069
  • PHOTO-FINISH legislativas

Nearest frequency peer: legislativas (-1 rank slots)

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.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “lei”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “lei” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lei vs lo
33% similar
lei vs li
67% similar
lei vs Lu
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lei
PropertyValue
Headwordlei
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈlej]
Letters3
Frequency rank#9,485
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “lei”

Esta escala corre desde el núcleo del español cotidiano (izquierda) hasta el rastro de formas rara vez usadas (derecha).leicae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “legislativas” (#9,484), “leyó” (#9,486), “lazo” (#9,483). Entre 2,069 lemas con “L”, “lei” va en #9,485. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lei is neighbouring look-alikes ("lo", "li", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ˈlej]. Frequency #9,485 among 2,069 “L” headwords. Gloss: "Corona de flores que adorna el cuello y que se obsequia al llegar o marchar como símbolo de afecto.".

lei has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lo", "li", "Lu", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is lei, spelled L-E-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Corona de flores que adorna el cuello y que se obsequia al llegar o marchar como símbolo de afecto.

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

How do you spell "lei"?
"lei" is spelled L-E-I. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈlej].
What does "lei" mean?
As a noun, "lei" means: Corona de flores que adorna el cuello y que se obsequia al llegar o marchar como símbolo de afecto.
What words are commonly confused with "lei"?
"lei" is commonly confused with "lo", "li", "Lu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lei"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lei" is [ˈlej]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lei" come from?
"lei" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lei", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list