largavsliraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,583
“larga” frequency rank
#13,968
“lira” frequency rank
16551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature larga lira
Definition soltura instrumento musical de cordas dedilhadas

Where the eye mixes larga and lira

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. larga runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against lira's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
larga
4 ch
lira

Why the eye confuses larga with lira

A purely visual mix-up. larga (/ˈlaɾ.ɡɐ/) and lira (/ˈli.ɾɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

larga is recorded at frequency rank #2,583, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaɾ.ɡɐ/. lira is at rank #13,968, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈli.ɾɐ/.

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 16551, this pair ranks #54,948 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of larga vs lira

Shared letters: alr. Private to "larga": g. Private to "lira": i.

"larga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "lira" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • larga ← alrga · lagra · larag · largga · larrga · llarga · lraga
  • lira ← ilra · liar · lirra · llira · lria

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "larga" and "lira" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlaɾ.ɡɐ/ versus /ˈli.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "larga" vs "lira" - which ranks higher?
"larga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,583 in our Portuguese list, against #13,968 for "lira". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "larga" and "lira" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "larga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,948 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "larga" and "lira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lira vs listra". 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 #54,948 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