lamavslimConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,317
“lama” frequency rank
#27,164
“lim” frequency rank
32481
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lama lim
Definition mistura heterogênea de terra e água membro

Where the eye mixes lama and lim

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lama runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lim's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lama
3 ch
lim

Why the eye confuses lama with lim

A purely visual mix-up. lama (/ˈlɐ.mɐ/) and lim (/lim/) 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 32481, 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/. lim is at rank #27,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lim/.

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 32481, this pair ranks #35,320 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lama vs lim

Shared letters: lm. Private to "lama": a. Private to "lim": i.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lama ← laam · lamma · llama · lmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lama" for "lim" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɐ.mɐ/ versus /lim/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "lama" or "lim" show up more?
"lama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,317 in our Portuguese list, against #27,164 for "lim". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lama" and "lim" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,320 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lama" and "lim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lied vs lim". 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 #35,320 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