lebrevslemeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,704
“lebre” frequency rank
#12,478
“leme” frequency rank
35182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebre leme
Definition mamífero da família Leporidae, parente do coelho, maior e mais rápido que este; seu macho é o lebrão superfície plana na parte traseira de um barco ou de um avião e que serve para os dirigir

Where the eye mixes lebre and leme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lebre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against leme's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lebre
4 ch
leme

Visual trap between lebre and leme

A purely visual mix-up. lebre ([ˈlɛ.bɾi]) 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 35182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lebre is recorded at frequency rank #22,704, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛ.bɾi]. 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 35182, this pair ranks #31,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lebre vs leme

Shared letters: el. Private to "lebre": br. Private to "leme": m.

"lebre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "leme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebre ← elbre · lbere · lebbre · leber · lebrre · lerbe · llebre
  • leme ← elme · leem · lemme · lleme · lmee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lebre" for "leme" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛ.bɾi] versus /ˈlɛ.mɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lebre" or "leme"?
"leme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,478 in our Portuguese list, against #22,704 for "lebre". 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 "lebre" 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 #31,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebre" and "leme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leben vs lebre". 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 #31,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list