laço vs ló, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#9,518
“laço” frequency rank: #37,407
“ló” frequency rank: 46925
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	laço	ló
Definition	nó que se desata facilmente	lado de uma embarcação que fica exposto ao vento

Where the eye mixes laço and ló

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. laço runs 4 letters (CVCV) against ló's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch

laço

2 ch

ló

Why the eye confuses laço with ló

A purely visual mix-up. laço (/ˈla.su/) and ló (/ˈlɔ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46925, 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/. ló is at rank #37,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ/.

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 46925, this pair ranks #18,381 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laço vs ló

Shared letters: l. Private to "laço": aoç. Private to "ló": ó.

"laço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "ló" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "laço" and "ló" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈla.su/ versus /ˈlɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "laço" or "ló"?

"laço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,518 in our Portuguese list, against #37,407 for "ló". 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 "laço" and "ló" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "laço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ló" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #18,381 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"laço" and "ló" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ló vs loch". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #18,381 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.