ligarvslinearConfusable pair

Quick tell: ligar is a noun, linear is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ligar” is a noun and “linear” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,751
“ligar” frequency rank
#12,281
“linear” frequency rank
14032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ligar linear
Definition o mesmo que ligário que é referente a linhas

Letter map: ligar vs linear

Shared letters muted; letters that set ligar and linear apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
ligar
6 ch
linear

Part-of-speech tell for ligar / linear

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ligar is anoun and linearanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14032, 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 ?). linear is at rank #12,281, tagged as anadj.

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 14032, this pair ranks #58,159 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ligar vs linear

Shared letters: ailr. Private to "ligar": g. Private to "linear": en.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ligarilgar · lgiar · liagr · ligarr · liggar · ligra · lligar
  • linearilnear · lienar · linaer · linearr · linera · linnear · llinear · lniear

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ligar" for "linear" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ligar" is a noun and "linear" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ligar" or "linear" show up more?
"ligar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,751 in our Portuguese list, against #12,281 for "linear". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ligar" and "linear".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ligar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "linear" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,159 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ligar" and "linear" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ligar vs logar". 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 #58,159 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