lançavslucaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,380
“lança” frequency rank
#17,068
“luca” frequency rank
19448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lança luca
Definition uma arma longa para ser arremessada, que consiste de uma haste de madeira à qual é ligada uma ponta de metal o mesmo que carta do baralho

Where the eye mixes lança and luca

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lança runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against luca's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lança
4 ch
luca

Why the eye confuses lança with luca

A purely visual mix-up. lança (/ˈlɐ̃.sɐ/) and luca (/ˈlu.kɐ/) 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 19448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lança is recorded at frequency rank #2,380, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɐ̃.sɐ/. luca is at rank #17,068, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.kɐ/.

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 19448, this pair ranks #51,259 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lança vs luca

Shared letters: al. Private to "lança": nç. Private to "luca": cu.

"lança" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "luca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • luca ← lcua · lluca · luac · lucca · ulca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lança" and "luca" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɐ̃.sɐ/ versus /ˈlu.kɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lança" vs "luca" - which ranks higher?
"lança" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,380 in our Portuguese list, against #17,068 for "luca". 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 "lança" and "luca" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lança" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,259 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lança" and "luca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loch vs luca". 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 #51,259 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