ladovsloboWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#199
“lado” frequency rank
#4,408
“lobo” frequency rank
4607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lado lobo
Definition parte direita ou esquerda de qualquer corpo parte saliente de um órgão; porção de um órgão

Where the eye mixes lado and lobo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lado
4 ch
lobo

Why the eye confuses lado with lobo

A purely visual mix-up. lado (/ˈla.du/) and lobo (/ˈlɔ.bʊ/) 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 4607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lado is recorded at frequency rank #199, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.du/. lobo is at rank #4,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ.bʊ/.

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 4607, this pair ranks #70,245 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lado vs lobo

Shared letters: lo. Private to "lado": ad. Private to "lobo": b.

"lado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lobo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladoaldo · laddo · laod · ldao · llado
  • lobolboo · llobo · lobbo · loob · olbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lado" and "lobo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈla.du/ versus /ˈlɔ.bʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lado" or "lobo"?
"lado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #199 in our Portuguese list, against #4,408 for "lobo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lobo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,245 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lado" and "lobo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo 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 #70,245 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list