legvslemeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,059
“leg” frequency rank
#12,478
“leme” frequency rank
45537
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leg leme
Definition perna superfície plana na parte traseira de um barco ou de um avião e que serve para os dirigir

Where the eye mixes leg and leme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. leg runs 3 letters (CVC) against leme's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
leg
4 ch
leme

Look-alike desk: leg vs leme

A purely visual mix-up. leg (/lɛɡ/) 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 45537, 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/. 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 45537, this pair ranks #19,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leg vs leme

Shared letters: el. Private to "leg": g. Private to "leme": m.

"leg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "leme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leme ← elme · leem · lemme · lleme · lmee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leg" and "leme" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɛɡ/ versus /ˈlɛ.mɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leg" vs "leme" - which ranks higher?
"leme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,478 in our Portuguese list, against #33,059 for "leg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "leme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leg" and "leme" 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 #19,846 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