lemavslepraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,042
“lema” frequency rank
#38,788
“lepra” frequency rank
45830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lema lepra
Definition ideia expressa por uma frase que serve de guia ou de motivação para uma pessoa, grupo, seita, país ou nação na Antiguidade, designação de diversas doenças de pele, especialmente as de caráter crônico ou contagioso

Letter map: lema vs lepra

Shared letters muted; letters that set lema and lepra apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. lema runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lepra's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lema
5 ch
lepra

Spelling & dictionary notes on lema vs lepra

lema and lepra are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lema is recorded at frequency rank #7,042, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈle.mɐ/. lepra is at rank #38,788, tagged as anoun.

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 45830, this pair ranks #19,561 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lema vs lepra

Shared letters: ael. Private to "lema": m. Private to "lepra": pr.

"lema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lepra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lema ← elma · leam · lemma · llema · lmea
  • lepra ← elpra · lepar · leppra · leprra · lerpa · llepra · lpera

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lema" and "lepra" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "lema" or "lepra"?
"lema" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,042 in our Portuguese list, against #38,788 for "lepra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "lema" vs "lepra" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lema" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lepra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,561 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lema" and "lepra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lavra vs lepra". 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 #19,561 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