ledovslerdoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,033
“ledo” frequency rank
#33,687
“lerdo” frequency rank
79720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ledo lerdo
Definition Alegre, contento. Dícese de una persona: de poca inteligencia.

Where the eye mixes ledo and lerdo

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

4 ch
ledo
5 ch
lerdo

Why the eye confuses ledo with lerdo

A purely visual mix-up. ledo ([ˈleð̞ʊ]) and lerdo ([ˈleɾð̞o]) 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 79720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ledo is recorded at frequency rank #46,033, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleð̞ʊ]. lerdo is at rank #33,687, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈleɾð̞o].

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 79720, this pair ranks #12,630 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ledo vs lerdo

Shared letters: delo. Private to "ledo": -. Private to "lerdo": r.

"ledo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lerdo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ledo ← eldo · ldeo · leddo · leod · lledo
  • lerdo ← elrdo · ledro · lerddo · lerod · lerrdo · llerdo · lredo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ledo" for "lerdo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleð̞ʊ] versus [ˈleɾð̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ledo" or "lerdo"?
"lerdo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,687 in our Spanish list, against #46,033 for "ledo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ledo" and "lerdo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ledo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lerdo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,630 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ledo" and "lerdo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ledo vs lens". 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 #12,630 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