lavslulaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: la is a pronoun, lula is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#163
“la” frequency rank
#1,119
“lula” frequency rank
1282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature la lula
Definition mesmo que a, utilizado em ênclise com verbos que terminam em -z, -r ou -s moluscos cefalópodes marinhos, com dez tentáculos, da família dos loliginídeos

Letter map: la vs lula

Shared letters muted; letters that set la and lula apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch
la
4 ch
lula

Grammar separator: la vs lula

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: la is apronoun and lulaanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “la” sits inside “lula”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

la is recorded at frequency rank #163, classified as apron. lula is at rank #1,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.lɐ/.

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 1282, this pair ranks #74,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of la vs lula

Shared letters: al. Private to "la": -. Private to "lula": u.

"la" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "lula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lulallua · llula · lual · lulla · ulla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "la" and "lula" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "la" is a pronoun and "lula" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "la" vs "lula" - which ranks higher?
"la" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #163 in our Portuguese list, against #1,119 for "lula". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "la" and "lula".

  • Full dictionary entry for "la" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lula" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "la" and "lula" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs lula". 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 #74,302 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