levitação vs licitação, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#44,463
“levitação” frequency rank: #9,884
“licitação” frequency rank: 54347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	levitação	licitação
Definition	ato ou efeito de levitar	ato ou efeito de licitar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set levitação and licitação apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

levitação

9 ch

licitação

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. levitação (/lɨ.vi.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and licitação (/li.si.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 54347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

levitação is recorded at frequency rank #44,463, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɨ.vi.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. licitação is at rank #9,884, tagged as anoun, pronounced /li.si.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 54347, this pair ranks #11,333 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of levitação vs licitação

Shared letters: ailotãç. Private to "levitação": ev. Private to "licitação": c.

"levitação" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV · "licitação" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

levitação#44,463

licitação#9,884

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "levitação" and "licitação" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/lɨ.vi.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /li.si.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "levitação" or "licitação"?

"licitação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,884 in our Portuguese list, against #44,463 for "levitação". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering levitação vs licitação

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 “levitação” entry
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