latirvslítioWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,344
“latir” frequency rank
#26,804
“lítio” frequency rank
65148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature latir lítio
Definition o mesmo que latido elemento químico de símbolo Li, possui o número atômico 3 e massa atômica relativa 7; não é encontrado livre na natureza; é um elemento da classe dos alcalinos; na sua forma pura, é um metal macio de coloração branco prateado; é utilizado para produção de ligas metálicas condutoras de calor, em baterias elétricas, vidros e prismas especiais e, como medicamento, no tratamento de certos tipos de depressão

Where the eye mixes latir and lítio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. latir (CVCVC) and lítio (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
latir
5 ch
lítio

Look-alike desk: latir vs lítio

A purely visual mix-up. latir (/lɐ.ˈtiɾ/) and lítio (/ˈlitiu/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

latir is recorded at frequency rank #38,344, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɐ.ˈtiɾ/. lítio is at rank #26,804, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlitiu/.

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 65148, this pair ranks #5,504 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of latir vs lítio

Shared letters: ilt. Private to "latir": ar. Private to "lítio": oí.

"latir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lítio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • latir ← altir · laitr · latirr · latri · lattir · llatir · ltair

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "latir" and "lítio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/lɐ.ˈtiɾ/ versus /ˈlitiu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "latir" or "lítio"?
"lítio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,804 in our Portuguese list, against #38,344 for "latir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "latir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lítio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,504 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "latir" and "lítio" 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 #5,504 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