Which to use
“laço” and “lady” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,518
- “laço” frequency rank
- #3,418
- “lady” frequency rank
- 12936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laço | lady |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nó que se desata facilmente | dama |
Where the eye mixes laço and lady
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. laço and lady follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: laço vs lady
A purely visual mix-up. laço (/ˈla.su/) and lady (/ˈleɪdi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laço is recorded at frequency rank #9,518, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.su/. lady is at rank #3,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪdi/.
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 12936, this pair ranks #59,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laço vs lady
Shared letters: al. Private to "laço": oç. Private to "lady": dy.
"laço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lady" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lady ← aldy · laddy · ladyy · layd · lday · llady
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laço" and "lady" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "laço" or "lady" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "laço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lady" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laço" and "lady" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laço 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 #59,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.