LaosvsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,349
“Laos” frequency rank
#37,407
“ló” frequency rank
57756
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laos
Definition Laos lado de uma embarcação que fica exposto ao vento

Where the eye mixes Laos and ló

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
Laos
2 ch
ló

Why the eye confuses Laos with ló

A purely visual mix-up. Laos (/ˈlaʊs/,/ˈlɑːoʊs/) and (/ˈlɔ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laos is recorded at frequency rank #20,349, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaʊs/,/ˈlɑːoʊs/. is at rank #37,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ/.

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 57756, this pair ranks #9,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Laos vs ló

Shared letters: l. Private to "Laos": aos. Private to "ló": ó.

"Laos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "ló" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Laoslaoss · llaos · loas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Laos" for "ló" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlaʊs/,/ˈlɑːoʊs/ versus /ˈlɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Laos" vs "ló" - which ranks higher?
"Laos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,349 in our Portuguese list, against #37,407 for "ló". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Laos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ló" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laos" and "ló" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ló vs loch". 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 #9,147 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