ló vs luto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,407
“ló” frequency rank: #5,112
“luto” frequency rank: 42519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ló	luto
Definition	lado de uma embarcação que fica exposto ao vento	dor causada pela morte de alguém ou por grande calamidade

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ló and luto apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch

ló

4 ch

luto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ló (/ˈlɔ/) and luto (/ˈlu.tu/) 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 42519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ló is recorded at frequency rank #37,407, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ/. luto is at rank #5,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.tu/.

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 42519, this pair ranks #23,252 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ló vs luto

Shared letters: l. Private to "ló": ó. Private to "luto": otu.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

luto ← lluto · ltuo · luot · lutto · ulto

Frequency comparison

ló#37,407

luto#5,112

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ló" and "luto" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈlɔ/ versus /ˈlu.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ló" or "luto"?

"luto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,112 in our Portuguese list, against #37,407 for "ló". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ló vs luto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ló” entry
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