larvslarvaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,089
“lar” frequency rank
#35,214
“larva” frequency rank
38303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lar larva
Definition residência, habitação embrião que se torna livre abandonando normalmente os invólucros ovulares ou o organismo progenitor

Where the eye mixes lar and larva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
lar
5 ch
larva

Look-alike desk: lar vs larva

A purely visual mix-up. lar (/ˈlaɾ/) and larva (/'lar.va/) 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 extra letter(s) - “lar” sits inside “larva”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lar is recorded at frequency rank #3,089, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaɾ/. larva is at rank #35,214, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'lar.va/.

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 38303, this pair ranks #28,175 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lar vs larva

Shared letters: alr. Private to "lar": -. Private to "larva": v.

"lar" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "larva" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • larvaalrva · larav · larrva · larvva · llarva · lrava

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lar" for "larva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlaɾ/ versus /'lar.va/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lar" or "larva"?
"lar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,089 in our Portuguese list, against #35,214 for "larva". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "larva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,175 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lar" and "larva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs larva". 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 #28,175 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