lavovsleaveTell them apart

Which to use

“lavo” and “leave” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,508
“lavo” frequency rank
#35,123
“leave” frequency rank
61631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lavo leave
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de lavar. Salir.

Where the eye mixes lavo and leave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lavo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against leave's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lavo
5 ch
leave

Look-alike desk: lavo vs leave

A purely visual mix-up. lavo ([ˈlaβ̞o]) and leave (/liːv/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lavo is recorded at frequency rank #26,508, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaβ̞o]. leave is at rank #35,123, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːv/.

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 61631, this pair ranks #54,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lavo vs leave

Shared letters: alv. Private to "lavo": o. Private to "leave": e.

"lavo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lavo ← alvo · labo · laov · lavvo · llavo · lvao
  • leave ← elave · laeve · leabe · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lavo" for "leave" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaβ̞o] versus /liːv/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lavo" vs "leave" - which ranks higher?
"lavo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,508 in our Spanish list, against #35,123 for "leave". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lavo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lavo" and "leave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leave vs leone". 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 #54,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list