Which to use
“lion” and “ló” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,911
- “lion” frequency rank
- #37,407
- “ló” frequency rank
- 56318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lion | ló |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | leão | lado de uma embarcação que fica exposto ao vento |
Where the eye mixes lion and ló
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lion with ló
A purely visual mix-up. lion (/ˈlʌɪən/) and ló (/ˈlɔ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lion is recorded at frequency rank #18,911, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlʌɪən/. ló is at rank #37,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ/.
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 56318, this pair ranks #10,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lion vs ló
Shared letters: l. Private to "lion": ino. Private to "ló": ó.
"lion" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "ló" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lion ← ilon · lino · lionn · llion · loin
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lion" for "ló" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lion" vs "ló" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lion" and "ló" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ló" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lion" and "ló" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ló vs loch". 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 #10,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.