lepravsLermaTell them apart

Quick tell: lepra is a noun, Lerma is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lepra” is a noun and “Lerma” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,547
“lepra” frequency rank
#25,699
“Lerma” frequency rank
56246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lepra Lerma
Definition Enfermedad infecciosa de la piel y los nervios que se manifiesta por tubérculos, úlceras y manchas. Apellido.

Where the eye mixes lepra and Lerma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lepra and Lerma follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
lepra
5 ch
Lerma

Why the eye confuses lepra with Lerma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lepra is [ˈlepɾa] while Lerma is [ˈleɾma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lepra is recorded at frequency rank #30,547, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlepɾa]. Lerma is at rank #25,699, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈleɾma].

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 56246, this pair ranks #75,413 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lepra vs Lerma

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "lepra": p. Private to "Lerma": m.

"lepra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Lerma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lepra ← elpra · lepar · leppra · leprra · lerpa · llepra · lpera
  • Lerma ← elrma · lemra · leram · lermma · lerrma · llerma · lrema

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lepra" and "Lerma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lepra" is a noun and "Lerma" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "lepra" or "Lerma" show up more?
"Lerma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,699 in our Spanish list, against #30,547 for "lepra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lepra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lerma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,413 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lepra" and "Lerma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lepra vs Lyra". 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 #75,413 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