levavslevadaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#870
“leva” frequency rank
#5,111
“levada” frequency rank
5981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leva levada
Definition ato de levantar a âncora ação de levar

Where the eye mixes leva and levada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
leva
6 ch
levada

Why the eye confuses leva with levada

A purely visual mix-up. leva (/ˈlɛ.vɐ/) and levada (/lɨ.ˈva.dɐ/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “leva” sits inside “levada”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leva is recorded at frequency rank #870, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛ.vɐ/. levada is at rank #5,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɨ.ˈva.dɐ/.

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 5981, this pair ranks #68,563 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of leva vs levada

Shared letters: aelv. Private to "leva": -. Private to "levada": d.

"leva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "levada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • levaelva · leav · levva · lleva · lvea
  • levadaelvada · leavda · levaad · levadda · levdaa · levvada · llevada · lveada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leva" and "levada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɛ.vɐ/ versus /lɨ.ˈva.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leva" vs "levada" - which ranks higher?
"leva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #870 in our Portuguese list, against #5,111 for "levada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "leva" and "levada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leva" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "levada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,563 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leva" and "levada" 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 #68,563 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list