Which to use
“lápis” and “latir” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,496
- “lápis” frequency rank
- #38,344
- “latir” frequency rank
- 46840
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lápis | latir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cilindro fino de material apropriado, geralmente grafite, envolvido por uma menos fina tora de madeira usado para escrever, desenhar ou pintar: | o mesmo que latido |
Where the eye mixes lápis and latir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lápis and latir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: lápis vs latir
A purely visual mix-up. lápis (/ˈla.piⁱʃ/) and latir (/lɐ.ˈtiɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46840, 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/. latir is at rank #38,344, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɐ.ˈtiɾ/.
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 46840, this pair ranks #18,467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lápis vs latir
Shared letters: il. Private to "lápis": psá. Private to "latir": art.
"lápis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "latir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- latir ← altir · laitr · latirr · latri · lattir · llatir · ltair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lápis" and "latir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "lápis" or "latir" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lápis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "latir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lápis" and "latir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "latido vs latir". 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 #18,467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.