laicovslatoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: laico is a adjective, lato is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“laico” is an adjective and “lato” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,719
“laico” frequency rank
#22,703
“lato” frequency rank
48422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laico lato
Definition quem ou que não pertence ao clero; secular, leigo, sem confissão verão

Letter map: laico vs lato

Shared letters muted; letters that set laico and lato apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. laico runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against lato's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
laico
4 ch
lato

Grammar separator: laico vs lato

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: laico is anadjective and latoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laico is recorded at frequency rank #25,719, classified as anadj. lato is at rank #22,703, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlatɔ/.

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 48422, this pair ranks #16,742 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laico vs lato

Shared letters: alo. Private to "laico": ci. Private to "lato": t.

"laico" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "lato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laico ← alico · lacio · laicco · laioc · liaco · llaico
  • lato ← laot · latto · llato · ltao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "laico" and "lato" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laico" is an adjective and "lato" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "laico" vs "lato" - which ranks higher?
"lato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,703 in our Portuguese list, against #25,719 for "laico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "laico" and "lato".

  • Full dictionary entry for "laico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,742 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laico" and "lato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs laico". 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 #16,742 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