lemavsluvaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,042
“lema” frequency rank
#14,182
“luva” frequency rank
21224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lema luva
Definition ideia expressa por uma frase que serve de guia ou de motivação para uma pessoa, grupo, seita, país ou nação peça de vestuário para a mão

Where the eye mixes lema and luva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lema
4 ch
luva

Look-alike desk: lema vs luva

A purely visual mix-up. lema (/ˈle.mɐ/) and luva (/ˈlu.vɐ/) 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 21224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lema is recorded at frequency rank #7,042, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈle.mɐ/. luva is at rank #14,182, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.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 21224, this pair ranks #49,098 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lema vs luva

Shared letters: al. Private to "lema": em. Private to "luva": uv.

"lema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "luva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lemaelma · leam · lemma · llema · lmea
  • luvalluva · luav · luvva · lvua · ulva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lema" for "luva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈle.mɐ/ versus /ˈlu.vɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lema" or "luva"?
"lema" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,042 in our Portuguese list, against #14,182 for "luva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lema" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,098 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lema" and "luva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs luva". 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 #49,098 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