Which to use
“late” is a verb and “le” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,077
- “late” frequency rank
- #30
- “le” frequency rank
- 11107
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | late | le |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de latir. | Dativo de los pronombres personales de tercera persona él, ella y ello. |
Where the eye mixes late and le
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses late with le
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: late is [ˈlat̪e] while le is [le]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
late is recorded at frequency rank #11,077, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlat̪e]. le is at rank #30, tagged as apron, pronounced [le].
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 11107, this pair ranks #296,241 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of late vs le
Shared letters: el. Private to "late": at. Private to "le": -.
"late" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "le" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- late ← alte · laet · latte · llate · ltae
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "late" and "le" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "late" or "le" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "late" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "le" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,241 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "late" and "le" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lac vs late". 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 #296,241 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.