ligarvsluarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,751
“ligar” frequency rank
#16,331
“luar” frequency rank
18082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ligar luar
Definition o mesmo que ligário luz do sol que é refletida pela Lua

Where the eye mixes ligar and luar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ligar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against luar's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ligar
4 ch
luar

Look-alike desk: ligar vs luar

A purely visual mix-up. ligar (/li.ˈgaχ/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)) and luar (/ˈlwaɾ/) 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 18082, 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 ?). luar is at rank #16,331, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlwaɾ/.

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 18082, this pair ranks #52,986 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ligar vs luar

Shared letters: alr. Private to "ligar": gi. Private to "luar": u.

"ligar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "luar" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ligar ← ilgar · lgiar · liagr · ligarr · liggar · ligra · lligar
  • luar ← laur · lluar · luarr · lura · ular

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ligar" and "luar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/li.ˈgaχ/ ouvir ^(fonte ?) versus /ˈlwaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ligar" or "luar"?
"ligar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,751 in our Portuguese list, against #16,331 for "luar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ligar" and "luar" 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 "luar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,986 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ligar" and "luar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "luar vs ludo". 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 #52,986 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