Which to use
“letal” is an adjective and “leva” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,094
- “letal” frequency rank
- #870
- “leva” frequency rank
- 12964
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | letal | leva |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | relativo à morte | ato de levantar a âncora |
Where the eye mixes letal and leva
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses letal with leva
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: letal is /lɨ.ˈtaɫ/ while leva is /ˈlɛ.vɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12964, 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/. leva is at rank #870, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛ.vɐ/.
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 12964, this pair ranks #59,484 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of letal vs leva
Shared letters: ael. Private to "letal": t. Private to "leva": v.
"letal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "leva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "letal" for "leva" ever safe?
Which is more common, "letal" or "leva"?
After this comparison
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 "leva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,484 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "letal" and "leva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs leva". 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 #59,484 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.