Which to use
“lesão” is a noun and “letal” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,219
- “lesão” frequency rank
- #12,094
- “letal” frequency rank
- 17313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lesão | letal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contusão | relativo à morte |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lesão and letal apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lesão is /lɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/ while letal is /lɨ.ˈtaɫ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lesão is recorded at frequency rank #5,219, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. letal is at rank #12,094, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɨ.ˈtaɫ/.
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 17313, this pair ranks #53,965 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lesão vs letal
Shared letters: el. Private to "lesão": osã. Private to "letal": at.
"lesão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "letal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- letal ← eltal · leatl · letall · letla · lettal · lletal · lteal
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lesão" and "letal" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lesão" or "letal"?
Remembering lesão vs letal
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lesão”; for an adjective, it's “letal”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lesão” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable