lecciónvslegiónConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,088
“lección” frequency rank
#13,083
“legión” frequency rank
17171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lección legión
Definition Lectura₁. Ejército de la Roma antigua que se componía de caballería e infantería.

Where the eye mixes lección and legión

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lección runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against legión's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
lección
6 ch
legión

Look-alike desk: lección vs legión

A purely visual mix-up. lección ([lekˈsjõn]) and legión ([leˈxjõn]) 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 17171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lección is recorded at frequency rank #4,088, classified as anoun, pronounced [lekˈsjõn]. legión is at rank #13,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leˈxjõn].

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 17171, this pair ranks #273,265 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lección vs legión

Shared letters: eilnó. Private to "lección": c. Private to "legión": g.

"lección" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "legión" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lección" for "legión" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([lekˈsjõn] versus [leˈxjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lección" vs "legión" - which ranks higher?
"lección" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,088 in our Spanish list, against #13,083 for "legión". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lección" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "legión" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,265 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lección" and "legión" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lechón vs legión". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #273,265 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