vslupoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,407
“ló” frequency rank
#41,108
“lupo” frequency rank
78515
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lupo
Definition lado de uma embarcação que fica exposto ao vento lobo (mamífero carnívoro)

Where the eye mixes ló and lupo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ló
4 ch
lupo

Why the eye confuses ló with lupo

A purely visual mix-up. (/ˈlɔ/) and lupo (/ˈlu.pɔ/.) 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 78515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

is recorded at frequency rank #37,407, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ/. lupo is at rank #41,108, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.pɔ/..

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 78515, this pair ranks #1,662 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ló vs lupo

Shared letters: l. Private to "ló": ó. Private to "lupo": opu.

"ló" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "lupo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lupollupo · lpuo · luop · luppo · ulpo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ló" and "lupo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɔ/ versus /ˈlu.pɔ/.) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ló" or "lupo"?
"ló" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,407 in our Portuguese list, against #41,108 for "lupo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ló" and "lupo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ló" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lupo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,662 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ló" and "lupo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ludo vs lupo". 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 #1,662 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