legadovsllegandoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,089
“legado” frequency rank
#2,569
“llegando” frequency rank
6658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legado llegando
Definition Enviado o ministro enviado para representar a una autoridad en un asunto Gerundio de llegar.

Where the eye mixes legado and llegando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. legado runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against llegando's 8 (CCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
legado
8 ch
llegando

Why the eye confuses legado with llegando

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legado is [leˈɣ̞að̞o] while llegando is [ʝeˈɣ̞ãn̪d̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legado is recorded at frequency rank #4,089, classified as anoun, pronounced [leˈɣ̞að̞o]. llegando is at rank #2,569, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈɣ̞ãn̪d̪o].

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 6658, this pair ranks #310,147 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of legado vs llegando

Shared letters: adeglo. Private to "legado": -. Private to "llegando": n.

"legado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "llegando" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legado ← elgado · leagdo · legaddo · legaod · legdao · leggado · lgeado
  • llegando ← legando · lelgando · lleagndo · llegadno · lleganddo · lleganndo · lleganod · lleggando

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "legado" and "llegando" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "legado" is a noun and "llegando" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "legado" or "llegando" show up more?
"llegando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,569 in our Spanish list, against #4,089 for "legado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "llegando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #310,147 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legado" and "llegando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "legado vs leñador". 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 #310,147 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