Which to use
“laia” and “lápis” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,883
- “laia” frequency rank
- #8,496
- “lápis” frequency rank
- 46379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laia | lápis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lã | cilindro fino de material apropriado, geralmente grafite, envolvido por uma menos fina tora de madeira usado para escrever, desenhar ou pintar: |
Where the eye mixes laia and lápis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. laia runs 4 letters (CVVV) against lápis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laia with lápis
A purely visual mix-up. laia (/ˈlaj.ɐ/) and lápis (/ˈla.piⁱʃ/) 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 46379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laia is recorded at frequency rank #37,883, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaj.ɐ/. lápis is at rank #8,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.piⁱʃ/.
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 46379, this pair ranks #18,928 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laia vs lápis
Shared letters: il. Private to "laia": a. Private to "lápis": psá.
"laia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "lápis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laia ← alia · laai · liaa · llaia
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laia" and "lápis" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "laia" or "lápis" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laia" and "lápis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lápis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,928 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laia" and "lápis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laia vs liana". 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 #18,928 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.