lavado vs ligado, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#20,350
“lavado” frequency rank: #2,239
“ligado” frequency rank: 22589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lavado	ligado
Definition	que se lavou	que está conectado a outra parte; unido

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lavado and ligado apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

lavado

6 ch

ligado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lavado (/lɐ.ˈva.du/) and ligado (/li.ˈɡa.du/) 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 22589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lavado is recorded at frequency rank #20,350, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɐ.ˈva.du/. ligado is at rank #2,239, tagged as anadj, pronounced /li.ˈɡa.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 22589, this pair ranks #47,422 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lavado vs ligado

Shared letters: adlo. Private to "lavado": v. Private to "ligado": gi.

"lavado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "ligado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

lavado ← alvado · laavdo · lavaddo · lavaod · lavdao · lavvado · llavado · lvaado
ligado ← ilgado · lgiado · liagdo · ligaddo · ligaod · ligdao · liggado · lligado

Frequency comparison

lavado#20,350

ligado#2,239

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lavado" and "ligado" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/lɐ.ˈva.du/ versus /li.ˈɡa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "lavado" or "ligado"?

"ligado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,239 in our Portuguese list, against #20,350 for "lavado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lavado vs ligado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lavado” entry
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