leo vs let, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#4,079
“leo” frequency rank: #6,782
“let” frequency rank: 10861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	leo	let
Definition	leão	obstáculo

Where the eye mixes leo and let

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

leo

3 ch

let

Visual trap between leo and let

A purely visual mix-up. leo (/ˈle.oː/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and let (/lɛt/ Áudio (EUA)^(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 a single letter - o in “leo” becomes t in “let”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leo is recorded at frequency rank #4,079, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈle.oː/ ouvir^(fonte ?). let is at rank #6,782, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɛt/ Áudio (EUA)^(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 10861, this pair ranks #62,124 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leo vs let

Shared letters: el. Private to "leo": o. Private to "let": t.

"leo" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "let" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leo" and "let" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈle.oː/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /lɛt/ Áudio (EUA)^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "leo" or "let" show up more?

"leo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,079 in our Portuguese list, against #6,782 for "let". 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 "leo" and "let" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "leo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "let" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #62,124 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"leo" and "let" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "least vs let". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #62,124 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.