Which to use
“lesma” and “leste” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,714
- “lesma” frequency rank
- #1,051
- “leste” frequency rank
- 40765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lesma | leste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nome vulgar dos moluscos pulmonados da família dos Limacídeos (mais particularmente os do género Limax Cuvier) | um dos pontos cardeais, oposto ao oeste, equivalente ao lado direito |
Where the eye mixes lesma and leste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lesma and leste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between lesma and leste
A purely visual mix-up. lesma (/ˈleʒ.mɐ/) and leste (/ˈlɛʃ.tɨ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lesma is recorded at frequency rank #39,714, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleʒ.mɐ/. leste is at rank #1,051, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛʃ.tɨ/.
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 40765, this pair ranks #25,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lesma vs leste
Shared letters: els. Private to "lesma": am. Private to "leste": t.
"lesma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "leste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lesma" and "leste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "lesma" or "leste" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lesma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lesma" and "leste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lesma vs lhama". 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 #25,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.