Which to use
“laia” and “lhama” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,883
- “laia” frequency rank
- #42,084
- “lhama” frequency rank
- 79967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laia | lhama |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lã | mamífero ruminante andino, de pescoço longo e pelo lanoso, parente do camelo, conhecido por cuspir quando é desagradado e pela sua lã; o mesmo que lama |
Where the eye mixes laia and lhama
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laia runs 4 letters (CVVV) against lhama's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laia with lhama
A purely visual mix-up. laia (/ˈlaj.ɐ/) and lhama (/ˈʎɐ̃.ma/) 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 79967, 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/. lhama is at rank #42,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʎɐ̃.ma/.
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 79967, this pair ranks #1,407 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laia vs lhama
Shared letters: al. Private to "laia": i. Private to "lhama": hm.
"laia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "lhama" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laia" for "lhama" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laia" vs "lhama" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lhama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,407 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laia" and "lhama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lhama 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 #1,407 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.