Which to use
“laço” and “lava” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,518
- “laço” frequency rank
- #3,702
- “lava” frequency rank
- 13220
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laço | lava |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nó que se desata facilmente | designação dada ao material geológico em fusão, com temperatura em geral entre os 600 °C e os 1 250 °C, que um vulcão expele durante uma erupção |
Where the eye mixes laço and lava
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. laço and lava follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between laço and lava
A purely visual mix-up. laço (/ˈla.su/) and lava (/ˈla.vɐ/) 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 13220, 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/. lava is at rank #3,702, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.vɐ/.
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 13220, this pair ranks #59,199 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laço vs lava
Shared letters: al. Private to "laço": oç. Private to "lava": v.
"laço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lava" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lava ← alva · laav · lavva · llava · lvaa
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laço" and "lava" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "laço" vs "lava" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "lava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,199 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laço" and "lava" 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 #59,199 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.