latovslóWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,703
“lato” frequency rank
#37,407
“ló” frequency rank
60110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lato ló
Definition verão lado de uma embarcação que fica exposto ao vento

Where the eye mixes lato and ló

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. lato runs 4 letters (CVCV) against ló's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lato
2 ch
ló

Visual trap between lato and ló

A purely visual mix-up. lato (/ˈlatɔ/) and ló (/ˈlɔ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lato is recorded at frequency rank #22,703, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlatɔ/. ló is at rank #37,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ/.

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 60110, this pair ranks #7,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lato vs ló

Shared letters: l. Private to "lato": aot. Private to "ló": ó.

"lato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ló" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lato ← laot · latto · llato · ltao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lato" and "ló" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlatɔ/ versus /ˈlɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lato" vs "ló" - which ranks higher?
"lato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,703 in our Portuguese list, against #37,407 for "ló". 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 "lato" and "ló" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ló" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lato" and "ló" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ló vs loch". 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 #7,840 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