Which to use
“leave” and “leme” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,377
- “leave” frequency rank
- #12,478
- “leme” frequency rank
- 27855
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leave | leme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | permissão para deixar o posto | superfície plana na parte traseira de um barco ou de um avião e que serve para os dirigir |
Where the eye mixes leave and leme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. leave runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against leme's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses leave with leme
A purely visual mix-up. leave (/liːv/) and leme (/ˈlɛ.mɨ/) 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 27855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leave is recorded at frequency rank #15,377, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːv/. leme is at rank #12,478, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛ.mɨ/.
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 27855, this pair ranks #41,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leave vs leme
Shared letters: el. Private to "leave": av. Private to "leme": m.
"leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "leme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leave" and "leme" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "leave" vs "leme" - which ranks higher?
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 "leave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leave" and "leme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "least vs leave". 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 #41,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.