Which to use
“ligação” and “locação” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,435
- “ligação” frequency rank
- #19,484
- “locação” frequency rank
- 20919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ligação | locação |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de ligar | aluguel; arrendamento |
Where the eye mixes ligação and locação
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ligação and locação follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: ligação vs locação
A purely visual mix-up. ligação (/li.ɡɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and locação (/lukɐˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 20919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ligação is recorded at frequency rank #1,435, classified as anoun, pronounced /li.ɡɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. locação is at rank #19,484, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lukɐˈsɐ̃w̃/.
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 20919, this pair ranks #49,479 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ligação vs locação
Shared letters: aloãç. Private to "ligação": gi. Private to "locação": c.
"ligação" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "locação" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ligação" and "locação" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ligação" or "locação" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ligação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locação" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,479 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ligação" and "locação" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locação vs loção". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #49,479 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.