Which to use
“laia” and “lar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,883
- “laia” frequency rank
- #3,089
- “lar” frequency rank
- 40972
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laia | lar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lã | residência, habitação |
Where the eye mixes laia and lar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. laia runs 4 letters (CVVV) against lar's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between laia and lar
A purely visual mix-up. laia (/ˈlaj.ɐ/) and lar (/ˈlaɾ/) 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 40972, 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/. lar is at rank #3,089, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaɾ/.
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 40972, this pair ranks #25,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laia vs lar
Shared letters: al. Private to "laia": i. Private to "lar": r.
"laia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "lar" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laia ← alia · laai · liaa · llaia
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laia" for "lar" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "laia" or "lar" show up more?
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 "laia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laia" and "lar" 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 #25,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.