ligarvslimiarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,751
“ligar” frequency rank
#18,098
“limiar” frequency rank
19849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ligar limiar
Definition o mesmo que ligário limite, fronteira entre duas áreas, épocas ou períodos; extremo

Where the eye mixes ligar and limiar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ligar
6 ch
limiar

Look-alike desk: ligar vs limiar

A purely visual mix-up. ligar (/li.ˈgaχ/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)) and limiar (/li.ˈmjaɾ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ligar is recorded at frequency rank #1,751, classified as anoun, pronounced /li.ˈgaχ/ ouvir ^(fonte ?). limiar is at rank #18,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced /li.ˈmjaɾ/.

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 19849, this pair ranks #50,789 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ligar vs limiar

Shared letters: ailr. Private to "ligar": g. Private to "limiar": m.

"ligar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "limiar" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ligarilgar · lgiar · liagr · ligarr · liggar · ligra · lligar
  • limiarilmiar · liimar · limair · limiarr · limira · limmiar · llimiar · lmiiar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ligar" and "limiar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/li.ˈgaχ/ ouvir ^(fonte ?) versus /li.ˈmjaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ligar" or "limiar"?
"ligar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,751 in our Portuguese list, against #18,098 for "limiar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ligar" and "limiar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ligar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "limiar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,789 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ligar" and "limiar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "limiar vs lombar". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #50,789 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