Which to use
“letal” is an adjective and “letra” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,094
- “letal” frequency rank
- #2,238
- “letra” frequency rank
- 14332
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | letal | letra |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | relativo à morte | representação gráfica dos sons de um idioma |
Where the eye mixes letal and letra
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses letal with letra
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: letal is /lɨ.ˈtaɫ/ while letra is /ˈle.tɾɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
letal is recorded at frequency rank #12,094, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɨ.ˈtaɫ/. letra is at rank #2,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈle.tɾɐ/.
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 14332, this pair ranks #57,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of letal vs letra
Shared letters: aelt. Private to "letal": -. Private to "letra": r.
"letal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "letra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "letal" and "letra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "letal" vs "letra" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "letal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "letra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "letal" and "letra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letra vs listra". 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 #57,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.