lapavslapelaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,071
“lapa” frequency rank
#46,912
“lapela” frequency rank
55983
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lapa lapela
Definition grande pedra ou laje que se sobressai de um rochedo, formando um refúgio parte dianteira e superior de um casaco que é voltada para fora; rebuço

Letter map: lapa vs lapela

Shared letters muted; letters that set lapa and lapela apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. lapa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lapela's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lapa
6 ch
lapela

Corpus notes: lapa and lapela

lapa and lapela are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lapa is recorded at frequency rank #9,071, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.pɐ/. lapela is at rank #46,912, tagged as anoun.

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 55983, this pair ranks #10,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lapa vs lapela

Shared letters: alp. Private to "lapa": -. Private to "lapela": e.

"lapa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lapela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lapa ← alpa · laap · lappa · llapa · lpaa
  • lapela ← alpela · laepla · lapeal · lapella · laplea · lappela · llapela · lpaela

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lapa" and "lapela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "lapa" vs "lapela" - which ranks higher?
"lapa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,071 in our Portuguese list, against #46,912 for "lapela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lapa" and "lapela".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lapa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lapela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lapa" and "lapela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapa 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 #10,253 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