lobovslóbuloConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,408
“lobo” frequency rank
#47,469
“lóbulo” frequency rank
51877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lobo lóbulo
Definition parte saliente de um órgão; porção de um órgão porção saliente e arredondada de um órgão qualquer

Where the eye mixes lobo and lóbulo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lobo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lóbulo's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lobo
6 ch
lóbulo

Why the eye confuses lobo with lóbulo

A purely visual mix-up. lobo (/ˈlɔ.bʊ/) and lóbulo (/ˈlɔ.bu.lu/) 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 51877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lobo is recorded at frequency rank #4,408, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ.bʊ/. lóbulo is at rank #47,469, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ.bu.lu/.

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 51877, this pair ranks #13,230 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lobo vs lóbulo

Shared letters: blo. Private to "lobo": -. Private to "lóbulo": uó.

"lobo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lóbulo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lobo ← lboo · llobo · lobbo · loob · olbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lobo" and "lóbulo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɔ.bʊ/ versus /ˈlɔ.bu.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lobo" vs "lóbulo" - which ranks higher?
"lobo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,408 in our Portuguese list, against #47,469 for "lóbulo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lobo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lóbulo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,230 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lobo" and "lóbulo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lóbulo vs louro". 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 #13,230 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