lacavslataTell them apart

Which to use

“laca” and “lata” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,502
“laca” frequency rank
#6,442
“lata” frequency rank
54944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laca lata
Definition resina ou goma resinosa obtida de certas árvores no Oriente folha de ferro laminada e estanhada

Where the eye mixes laca and lata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
laca
4 ch
lata

Look-alike desk: laca vs lata

A purely visual mix-up. laca (/ˈla.kɐ/) and lata (/ˈla.tɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “laca” becomes t in “lata”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laca is recorded at frequency rank #48,502, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.kɐ/. lata is at rank #6,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.tɐ/.

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 54944, this pair ranks #10,913 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laca vs lata

Shared letters: al. Private to "laca": c. Private to "lata": t.

"laca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacaalca · laac · lacca · lcaa · llaca
  • latalaat · latta · llata · ltaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "laca" and "lata" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈla.kɐ/ versus /ˈla.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "laca" or "lata"?
"lata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,442 in our Portuguese list, against #48,502 for "laca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "laca" and "lata" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,913 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laca" and "lata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs loch". 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 #10,913 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