len vs lui, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#30,622
“len” frequency rank: #34,790
“lui” frequency rank: 65412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	len	lui
Definition	só, apenas, somente	alugar (tomar de aluguel)

Where the eye mixes len and lui

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

3 ch

len

3 ch

lui

Why the eye confuses len with lui

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: len is /ʎen/ while lui is /ˈlu.i/.. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65412, 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/. lui is at rank #34,790, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlu.i/..

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 65412, this pair ranks #5,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of len vs lui

Shared letters: l. Private to "len": en. Private to "lui": iu.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "len" and "lui" be used interchangeably?

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

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

"len" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,622 in our Portuguese list, against #34,790 for "lui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "len" and "lui" 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 "lui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #5,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"len" and "lui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ludo vs lui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #5,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.