Which to use
“lava” and “leva” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,702
- “lava” frequency rank
- #870
- “leva” frequency rank
- 4572
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lava | leva |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ato de levantar a âncora |
Where the eye mixes lava and leva
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lava with leva
A purely visual mix-up. lava (/ˈla.vɐ/) and leva (/ˈlɛ.vɐ/) 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 a single letter - a in “lava” becomes e in “leva”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4572, 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/. leva is at rank #870, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛ.vɐ/.
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 4572, this pair ranks #70,294 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lava vs leva
Shared letters: alv. Private to "lava": -. Private to "leva": e.
"lava" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "leva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lava" and "leva" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "lava" or "leva" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lava" and "leva" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lava" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,294 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lava" and "leva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lava vs liana". 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 #70,294 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.