leftvsletTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,488
“left” frequency rank
#6,782
“let” frequency rank
18270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature left let
Definition esquerda obstáculo

Where the eye mixes left and let

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

4 ch
left
3 ch
let

Visual trap between left and let

A purely visual mix-up. left (/lɛft/) and let (/lɛt/ Áudio (EUA)^(fonte ?)) 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 18270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

left is recorded at frequency rank #11,488, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɛft/. let is at rank #6,782, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɛt/ Áudio (EUA)^(fonte ?).

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 18270, this pair ranks #52,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of left vs let

Shared letters: elt. Private to "left": f. Private to "let": -.

"left" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "let" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leftelft · lefft · leftt · letf · lfet · lleft

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "left" and "let" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/lɛft/ versus /lɛt/ Áudio (EUA)^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "left" or "let"?
"let" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,782 in our Portuguese list, against #11,488 for "left". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "left" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "let" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "left" and "let" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "least vs left". 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 #52,765 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