Which to use
“lava” is a noun and “lavado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,702
- “lava” frequency rank
- #20,350
- “lavado” frequency rank
- 24052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lava | lavado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | designação dada ao material geológico em fusão, com temperatura em geral entre os 600 °C e os 1 250 °C, que um vulcão expele durante uma erupção | que se lavou |
Where the eye mixes lava and lavado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lava runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lavado's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: lava vs lavado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lava is /ˈla.vɐ/ while lavado is /lɐ.ˈva.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “lava” sits inside “lavado”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lava is recorded at frequency rank #3,702, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈla.vɐ/. lavado is at rank #20,350, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɐ.ˈva.du/.
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 24052, this pair ranks #45,654 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lava vs lavado
Shared letters: alv. Private to "lava": -. Private to "lavado": do.
"lava" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lavado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lava" and "lavado" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lava" vs "lavado" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lava" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lavado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,654 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lava" and "lavado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "latido vs lavado". 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 #45,654 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.