lenvslosTell them apart

Quick tell: len is a adverb, los is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“len” is an adverb and “los” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,622
“len” frequency rank
#394
“los” frequency rank
31016
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature len los
Definition só, apenas, somente os, pronome demonstrativo

Letter map: len vs los

Shared letters muted; letters that set len and los apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
len
3 ch
los

Role in the sentence - len and los

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: len is anadverb and losapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

len is recorded at frequency rank #30,622, classified as anadv, pronounced /ʎen/. los is at rank #394, tagged as apron.

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 31016, this pair ranks #37,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of len vs los

Shared letters: l. Private to "len": en. Private to "los": os.

"len" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "los" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "len" for "los" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "len" is an adverb and "los" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "len" or "los" show up more?
"los" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #394 in our Portuguese list, against #30,622 for "len". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "len" and "los".

  • Full dictionary entry for "len" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "los" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "len" and "los" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leben vs len". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #37,201 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