leyvslotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#204
“ley” frequency rank
#24,219
“lot” frequency rank
24423
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ley lot
Definition Disposición, regla o precepto dictado por la máxima autoridad. Lote.

Where the eye mixes ley and lot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ley
3 ch
lot

Why the eye confuses ley with lot

A purely visual mix-up. ley ([ˈlej]) and lot ([lo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ley is recorded at frequency rank #204, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlej]. lot is at rank #24,219, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lo].

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 24423, this pair ranks #241,245 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ley vs lot

Shared letters: l. Private to "ley": ey. Private to "lot": ot.

"ley" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "lot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ley" for "lot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlej] versus [lo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ley" or "lot" show up more?
"ley" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #204 in our Spanish list, against #24,219 for "lot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ley" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #241,245 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ley" and "lot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lot vs lotto". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #241,245 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