legvsllegóWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leg is a noun, llegó is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leg” is a noun and “llegó” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,212
“leg” frequency rank
#687
“llegó” frequency rank
38899
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leg llegó
Definition Pierna Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de llegar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leg and llegó apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
leg
5 ch
llegó

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leg is [lɛɡ] while llegó is [ʝeˈɣ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “leg” sits inside “llegó”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leg is recorded at frequency rank #38,212, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɛɡ]. llegó is at rank #687, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈɣ̞o].

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 38899, this pair ranks #167,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leg vs llegó

Shared letters: egl. Private to "leg": -. Private to "llegó": ó.

"leg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "llegó" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequency comparison

leg#38,212
llegó#687

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leg" and "llegó" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leg" is a noun and "llegó" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "leg" or "llegó"?
"llegó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #687 in our Spanish list, against #38,212 for "leg". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering leg vs llegó

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “leg”; for a verb, it's “llegó”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leg” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list