largevslarvaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: large is a adjective, larva is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“large” is an adjective and “larva” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,070
“large” frequency rank
#35,214
“larva” frequency rank
57284
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature large larva
Definition grande embrião que se torna livre abandonando normalmente os invólucros ovulares ou o organismo progenitor

Where the eye mixes large and larva

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

5 ch
large
5 ch
larva

Why the eye confuses large with larva

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: large is /lɑːd͡ʒ/ while larva is /'lar.va/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

large is recorded at frequency rank #22,070, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɑːd͡ʒ/. 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 57284, this pair ranks #9,432 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of large vs larva

Shared letters: alr. Private to "large": eg. Private to "larva": v.

"large" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "larva" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • largealrge · lagre · lareg · largge · larrge · llarge · lrage
  • larvaalrva · larav · larrva · larvva · llarva · lrava

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "large" for "larva" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "large" is an adjective and "larva" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "large" or "larva"?
"large" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,070 in our Portuguese list, against #35,214 for "larva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "large" 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 #9,432 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "large" 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 #9,432 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