leyesvslucesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#878
“leyes” frequency rank
#2,893
“luces” frequency rank
3771
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leyes luces
Definition Forma del plural de ley. Forma del plural de luz.

Where the eye mixes leyes and luces

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
leyes
5 ch
luces

Visual trap between leyes and luces

A purely visual mix-up. leyes ([ˈleʝes]) and luces ([ˈluses]) 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 3771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leyes is recorded at frequency rank #878, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈleʝes]. luces is at rank #2,893, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈluses].

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 3771, this pair ranks #317,593 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leyes vs luces

Shared letters: els. Private to "leyes": y. Private to "luces": cu.

"leyes" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "luces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leyeselyes · leeys · leyess · leyse · leyyes · lleyes · lyees
  • luceslcues · lluces · lucces · lucess · lucse · luecs · luses · ulces

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leyes" and "luces" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈleʝes] versus [ˈluses]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "leyes" or "luces" show up more?
"leyes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #878 in our Spanish list, against #2,893 for "luces". 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 "leyes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #317,593 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leyes" and "luces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lies vs luces". 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 #317,593 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