leavevslenteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“leave” and “lente” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,377
“leave” frequency rank
#9,881
“lente” frequency rank
25258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leave lente
Definition permissão para deixar o posto professor universitário

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leave and lente apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
leave
5 ch
lente

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. leave (/liːv/) and lente (/ˈlẽ.tɨ/) 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 25258, 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/. lente is at rank #9,881, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlẽ.tɨ/.

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 25258, this pair ranks #44,093 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leave vs lente

Shared letters: el. Private to "leave": av. Private to "lente": nt.

"leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "lente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leaveelave · laeve · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave
  • lenteelnte · lenet · lennte · lentte · letne · llente · lnete

Frequency comparison

leave#15,377
lente#9,881

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leave" and "lente" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/liːv/ versus /ˈlẽ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leave" or "lente"?
"lente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,881 in our Portuguese list, against #15,377 for "leave". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering leave vs lente

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leave” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list