lamavslarConfusable pair

Which to use

“lama” and “lar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,317
“lama” frequency rank
#3,089
“lar” frequency rank
8406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lama lar
Definition mistura heterogênea de terra e água residência, habitação

Where the eye mixes lama and lar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lama
3 ch
lar

Look-alike desk: lama vs lar

A purely visual mix-up. lama (/ˈlɐ.mɐ/) 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 8406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lama is recorded at frequency rank #5,317, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɐ.mɐ/. 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 8406, this pair ranks #65,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lama vs lar

Shared letters: al. Private to "lama": m. Private to "lar": r.

"lama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lamalaam · lamma · llama · lmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lama" and "lar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɐ.mɐ/ versus /ˈlaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lama" vs "lar" - which ranks higher?
"lar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,089 in our Portuguese list, against #5,317 for "lama". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "lama" 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 #65,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lama" and "lar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lama 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 #65,379 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