lençovsleoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,847
“lenço” frequency rank
#4,079
“leo” frequency rank
19926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lenço leo
Definition pedaço de pano quadrado que serve para: leão

Where the eye mixes lenço and leo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
lenço
3 ch
leo

Why the eye confuses lenço with leo

A purely visual mix-up. lenço (/ˈlẽ.su/) and leo (/ˈle.oː/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lenço is recorded at frequency rank #15,847, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlẽ.su/. leo is at rank #4,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈle.oː/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 19926, this pair ranks #50,697 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lenço vs leo

Shared letters: elo. Private to "lenço": . Private to "leo": -.

"lenço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "leo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lenço" and "leo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlẽ.su/ versus /ˈle.oː/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lenço" or "leo"?
"leo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,079 in our Portuguese list, against #15,847 for "lenço". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "lenço" and "leo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lenço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,697 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lenço" and "leo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lenço vs lince". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #50,697 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