ladovslutoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“lado” and “luto” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#239
“lado” frequency rank
#11,444
“luto” frequency rank
11683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lado luto
Definition Borde, orilla o extremo de algo. Expresión de pena por la muerte de una persona, se manifiesta en la ropa y accesorios de color negro, así como en adornos que se colocan en el lugar donde vivía o donde se vela el difunto.

Where the eye mixes lado and luto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lado
4 ch
luto

Why the eye confuses lado with luto

A purely visual mix-up. lado ([ˈlað̞o]) and luto ([ˈlut̪o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lado is recorded at frequency rank #239, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlað̞o]. luto is at rank #11,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlut̪o].

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 11683, this pair ranks #294,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lado vs luto

Shared letters: lo. Private to "lado": ad. Private to "luto": tu.

"lado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "luto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladoladdo · laod · ldao · llado
  • lutolluto · ltuo · luot · lutto · ulto

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lado" and "luto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlað̞o] versus [ˈlut̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lado" or "luto"?
"lado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #239 in our Spanish list, against #11,444 for "luto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #294,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lado" and "luto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lotto vs luto". 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 #294,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list