legvslevaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,059
“leg” frequency rank
#870
“leva” frequency rank
33929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leg leva
Definition perna ato de levantar a âncora

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leg and leva apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
leg
4 ch
leva

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. leg (/lɛɡ/) and leva (/ˈlɛ.vɐ/) 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 33929, 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/. leva is at rank #870, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛ.vɐ/.

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 33929, this pair ranks #33,461 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leg vs leva

Shared letters: el. Private to "leg": g. Private to "leva": av.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • levaelva · leav · levva · lleva · lvea

Frequency comparison

leg#33,059
leva#870

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leg" and "leva" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɛɡ/ versus /ˈlɛ.vɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leg" or "leva"?
"leva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #870 in our Portuguese list, against #33,059 for "leg". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering leg vs leva

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 “leg” 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