liçãovsligaçãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,419
“lição” frequency rank
#1,435
“ligação” frequency rank
4854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lição ligação
Definition tarefa que o professor passa ao aluno para solidificar o aprendizado ato ou efeito de ligar

Where the eye mixes lição and ligação

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lição runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against ligação's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lição
7 ch
ligação

Why the eye confuses lição with ligação

A purely visual mix-up. lição (/li.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and ligação (/li.ɡɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lição is recorded at frequency rank #3,419, classified as anoun, pronounced /li.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. ligação is at rank #1,435, tagged as anoun, pronounced /li.ɡɐ.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 4854, this pair ranks #69,916 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lição vs ligação

Shared letters: iloãç. Private to "lição": -. Private to "ligação": ag.

"lição" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "ligação" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lição" for "ligação" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/li.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /li.ɡɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lição" or "ligação"?
"ligação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,435 in our Portuguese list, against #3,419 for "lição". 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 "lição" and "ligação" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lição" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ligação" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,916 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lição" and "ligação" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs lição". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #69,916 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