limevslimpoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,652
“lime” frequency rank
#4,244
“limpo” frequency rank
44896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lime limpo
Definition verde-claro que não tem mancha ou sujidade

Letter map: lime vs limpo

Shared letters muted; letters that set lime and limpo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
lime
5 ch
limpo

Spelling & dictionary notes on lime vs limpo

lime and limpo are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lime is recorded at frequency rank #40,652, classified as anadj, pronounced /laɪm/, ouvir^(fonte ?). limpo is at rank #4,244, 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 44896, this pair ranks #20,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lime vs limpo

Shared letters: ilm. Private to "lime": e. Private to "limpo": op.

"lime" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "limpo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • limeilme · liem · limme · llime · lmie
  • limpoilmpo · limmpo · limop · limppo · lipmo · llimpo · lmipo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lime" for "limpo" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "lime" or "limpo" show up more?
"limpo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,244 in our Portuguese list, against #40,652 for "lime". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "lime" and "limpo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "limpo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lime" and "limpo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lied vs lime". 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 #20,535 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