línguavslínguasWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#536
“língua” frequency rank
#2,151
“línguas” frequency rank
2687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature língua línguas
Definition órgão da boca, auxiliar da mastigação e deglutição e responsável pela articulação dos sons; órgão da fala plural do substantivo língua

Letter map: língua vs línguas

Shared letters muted; letters that set língua and línguas apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. língua runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against línguas's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
língua
7 ch
línguas

Spelling & dictionary notes on língua vs línguas

língua and línguas 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 extra letter(s) - “língua” sits inside “línguas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

língua is recorded at frequency rank #536, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlĩ.ɡwɐ/. línguas is at rank #2,151, tagged as anoun.

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 2687, this pair ranks #72,607 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of língua vs línguas

Shared letters: aglnuí. Private to "língua": -. Private to "línguas": s.

"língua" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "línguas" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "língua" for "línguas" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “língua” sits inside “línguas”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "língua" or "línguas"?
"língua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #536 in our Portuguese list, against #2,151 for "línguas". 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 "língua" and "línguas".

  • Full dictionary entry for "língua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "línguas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,607 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "língua" and "línguas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lengua vs línguas". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #72,607 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