leve vs lew, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“leve” is an adjective and “lew” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,245
“leve” frequency rank: #37,890
“lew” frequency rank: 39135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	leve	lew
Definition	que tem pouco peso	leão

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leve and lew apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

leve

3 ch

lew

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leve is /ˈlɛ.vɨ/ while lew is /lɛf/. 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 39135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leve is recorded at frequency rank #1,245, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɛ.vɨ/. lew is at rank #37,890, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɛf/.

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 39135, this pair ranks #27,195 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leve vs lew

Shared letters: el. Private to "leve": v. Private to "lew": w.

"leve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lew" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

leve ← elve · leev · levve · lleve · lvee

Frequency comparison

leve#1,245

lew#37,890

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leve" and "lew" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leve" is an adjective and "lew" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "leve" or "lew"?

"leve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,245 in our Portuguese list, against #37,890 for "lew". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering leve vs lew

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “leve”; for a noun, it's “lew”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leve” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable