legavsllegóWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#42,002
“lega” frequency rank
#687
“llegó” frequency rank
42689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lega llegó
Definition Forma del femenino singular de lego. 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 lega and llegó apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lega
5 ch
llegó

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lega is [ˈleɣ̞a] while llegó is [ʝeˈɣ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lega is recorded at frequency rank #42,002, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈleɣ̞a]. 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 42689, this pair ranks #146,826 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lega vs llegó

Shared letters: egl. Private to "lega": a. Private to "llegó": ó.

"lega" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "llegó" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legaelga · leag · legga · lgea

Frequency comparison

lega#42,002
llegó#687

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lega" and "llegó" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lega" is an adjective and "llegó" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lega" or "llegó"?
"llegó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #687 in our Spanish list, against #42,002 for "lega". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lega vs llegó

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “lega”; for a verb, it's “llegó”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lega” 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