Which to use
“lean” and “letal” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,804
- “lean” frequency rank
- #12,094
- “letal” frequency rank
- 41898
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lean | letal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | magro, sem excessos, sem peso extra, enxuto | relativo à morte |
Where the eye mixes lean and letal
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lean with letal
A purely visual mix-up. lean (/liːn/) and letal (/lɨ.ˈtaɫ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lean is recorded at frequency rank #29,804, classified as anadj, pronounced /liːn/. letal is at rank #12,094, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɨ.ˈtaɫ/.
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 41898, this pair ranks #23,961 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lean vs letal
Shared letters: ael. Private to "lean": n. Private to "letal": t.
"lean" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "letal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lean" for "letal" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lean" vs "letal" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lean" and "letal" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lean" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "letal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,961 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lean" and "letal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lean vs Leben". 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 #23,961 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.