lew vs lhe, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,890
“lew” frequency rank: #322
“lhe” frequency rank: 38212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lew	lhe
Definition	leão	pronome pessoal dativo, de dois gêneros, da terceira pessoa do singular (ele, ela, você)

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

lew

3 ch

lhe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lew is /lɛf/ while lhe is /ʎɨ/. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lew is recorded at frequency rank #37,890, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɛf/. lhe is at rank #322, tagged as apron, pronounced /ʎɨ/.

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 38212, this pair ranks #28,267 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lew vs lhe

Shared letters: el. Private to "lew": w. Private to "lhe": h.

"lew" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lhe" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequency comparison

lew#37,890

lhe#322

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"lhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #322 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 lew vs lhe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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