Which to use
“leilão” and “lesão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,655
- “leilão” frequency rank
- #5,219
- “lesão” frequency rank
- 12874
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leilão | lesão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | venda em hasta pública a quem oferecer maior preço | contusão |
Where the eye mixes leilão and lesão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leilão runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against lesão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses leilão with lesão
A purely visual mix-up. leilão (/lɐj.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and lesão (/lɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) 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 12874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leilão is recorded at frequency rank #7,655, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɐj.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. lesão is at rank #5,219, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.
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 12874, this pair ranks #59,594 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leilão vs lesão
Shared letters: eloã. Private to "leilão": i. Private to "lesão": s.
"leilão" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "lesão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leilão" for "lesão" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "leilão" or "lesão" show up more?
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 "leilão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lesão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,594 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leilão" and "lesão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lesão vs lesma". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #59,594 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.