lacavslouçaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,502
“laca” frequency rank
#12,933
“louça” frequency rank
61435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laca louça
Definition resina ou goma resinosa obtida de certas árvores no Oriente toda a espécie de vasos de barro, porcelana, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set laca and louça apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
laca
5 ch
louça

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. laca (/ˈla.kɐ/) and louça (/ˈlow.sɐ/) 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 61435, 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/. louça is at rank #12,933, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlow.sɐ/.

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 61435, this pair ranks #7,142 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laca vs louça

Shared letters: al. Private to "laca": c. Private to "louça": ouç.

"laca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "louça" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacaalca · laac · lacca · lcaa · llaca

Frequency comparison

laca#48,502
louça#12,933

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laca" and "louça" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈla.kɐ/ versus /ˈlow.sɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "laca" or "louça"?
"louça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,933 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.

Remembering laca vs louça

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “laca” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list