lengua vs línguas, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#49,560
“lengua” frequency rank: #2,151
“línguas” frequency rank: 51711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lengua	línguas
Definition	língua	plural do substantivo língua

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lengua and línguas apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

lengua

7 ch

línguas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

lengua and línguas are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lengua is recorded at frequency rank #49,560, classified as anoun. línguas is at rank #2,151, tagged as anoun.

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 51711, this pair ranks #13,382 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lengua vs línguas

Shared letters: aglnu. Private to "lengua": e. Private to "línguas": sí.

"lengua" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "línguas" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

lengua ← elngua · legnua · lengau · lenggua · lenngua · lenuga · llengua · lnegua

Frequency comparison

lengua#49,560

línguas#2,151

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lengua" and "línguas" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "lengua" or "línguas"?

"línguas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,151 in our Portuguese list, against #49,560 for "lengua". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lengua vs línguas

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 “lengua” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable