laicovslençoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#25,719
“laico” frequency rank
#15,847
“lenço” frequency rank
41566
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laico lenço
Definition quem ou que não pertence ao clero; secular, leigo, sem confissão pedaço de pano quadrado que serve para:

Letter map: laico vs lenço

Shared letters muted; letters that set laico and lenço apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

5 ch
laico
5 ch
lenço

Role in the sentence - laico and lenço

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: laico is anadjective and lençoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laico is recorded at frequency rank #25,719, classified as anadj. lenço is at rank #15,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlẽ.su/.

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 41566, this pair ranks #24,342 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laico vs lenço

Shared letters: lo. Private to "laico": aci. Private to "lenço": enç.

"laico" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "lenço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laicoalico · lacio · laicco · laioc · liaco · llaico

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laico" and "lenço" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laico" is an adjective and "lenço" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "laico" or "lenço" show up more?
"lenço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,847 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "laico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lenço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,342 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laico" and "lenço" 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 #24,342 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