lava
/ˈla.vɐ/
The verdict
“lava” is a regularly-used Portuguese word, ranked #3,702 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,702
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - designação dada ao material geológico em fusão, com temperatura em geral entre os 600 °C e os 1 250 °C, que um vulcão expele durante uma erupção
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lava |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈla.vɐ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,702 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lava” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for lava is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈla.vɐ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,702 in overall Portuguese word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "designação dada ao material geológico em fusão, com temperatura em geral entre os 600 °C e os 1 250 °C, que um vulcão expele durante uma erupção".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for lava, with forms such as "alva", "laav", and "lavva". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lua", "Lev", "luta", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Portuguese form is lava, spelled L-A-V-A.
Definition
- 1designação dada ao material geológico em fusão, com temperatura em geral entre os 600 °C e os 1 250 °C, que um vulcão expele durante uma erupção
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alva,laav,lavva,llava,lvaa
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lava - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "lava"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “lava”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is L-A-V-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈla.vɐ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lua” - see the side-by-side comparison. lava vs lua
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.