Which to use
“laca” and “lhama” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,502
- “laca” frequency rank
- #42,084
- “lhama” frequency rank
- 90586
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laca | lhama |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | resina ou goma resinosa obtida de certas árvores no Oriente | mamífero ruminante andino, de pescoço longo e pelo lanoso, parente do camelo, conhecido por cuspir quando é desagradado e pela sua lã; o mesmo que lama |
Where the eye mixes laca and lhama
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laca runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lhama's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between laca and lhama
A purely visual mix-up. laca (/ˈla.kɐ/) and lhama (/ˈʎɐ̃.ma/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90586, 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/. lhama is at rank #42,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʎɐ̃.ma/.
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 90586, this pair ranks #261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laca vs lhama
Shared letters: al. Private to "laca": c. Private to "lhama": hm.
"laca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lhama" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laca" for "lhama" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laca" vs "lhama" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lhama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laca" and "lhama" 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 #261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.