len vs lua, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#30,622
“len” frequency rank: #1,619
“lua” frequency rank: 32241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	len	lua
Definition	só, apenas, somente	satélite natural da Terra, que se destaca no céu durante a noite

Where the eye mixes len and lua

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

len

3 ch

lua

Look-alike desk: len vs lua

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: len is /ʎen/ while lua is /'lua/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32241, 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/. lua is at rank #1,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'lua/.

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 32241, this pair ranks #35,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of len vs lua

Shared letters: l. Private to "len": en. Private to "lua": au.

"len" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "len" for "lua" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "len" is an adverb and "lua" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "len" or "lua"?

"lua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,619 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "len" and "lua" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "len" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "lua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #35,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"len" and "lua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leben vs len". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #35,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.