lápis vs las, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lápis” is a noun and “las” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,496
“lápis” frequency rank: #852
“las” frequency rank: 9348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lápis	las
Definition	cilindro fino de material apropriado, geralmente grafite, envolvido por uma menos fina tora de madeira usado para escrever, desenhar ou pintar:	as, pronome demonstrativo

Letter map: lápis vs las

Shared letters muted; letters that set lápis and las apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

5 ch

lápis

3 ch

las

Grammar separator: lápis vs las

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lápis is anoun and lasapronoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lápis is recorded at frequency rank #8,496, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.piⁱʃ/. las is at rank #852, tagged as apron.

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 9348, this pair ranks #64,109 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lápis vs las

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lápis": ipá. Private to "las": a.

"lápis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "las" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lápis" and "las" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lápis" is a noun and "las" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "lápis" or "las"?

"las" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #852 in our Portuguese list, against #8,496 for "lápis". 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 "lápis" and "las".

Full dictionary entry for "lápis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "las" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #64,109 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"lápis" and "las" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "las vs least". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #64,109 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.