Which to use
“leg” and “lema” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,059
- “leg” frequency rank
- #7,042
- “lema” frequency rank
- 40101
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leg | lema |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | perna | ideia expressa por uma frase que serve de guia ou de motivação para uma pessoa, grupo, seita, país ou nação |
Where the eye mixes leg and lema
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. leg runs 3 letters (CVC) against lema's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: leg vs lema
A purely visual mix-up. leg (/lɛɡ/) and lema (/ˈle.mɐ/) 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 40101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leg is recorded at frequency rank #33,059, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɛɡ/. lema is at rank #7,042, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈle.mɐ/.
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 40101, this pair ranks #26,060 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leg vs lema
Shared letters: el. Private to "leg": g. Private to "lema": am.
"leg" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lema ← elma · leam · lemma · llema · lmea
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leg" and "lema" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "leg" or "lema" show up more?
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 "leg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lema" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,060 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leg" and "lema" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leg vs Lied". 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 #26,060 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.