lockvslolaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,711
“lock” frequency rank
#9,522
“lola” frequency rank
32233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lock lola
Definition fechadura órgão genital feminino

Where the eye mixes lock and lola

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lock
4 ch
lola

Visual trap between lock and lola

A purely visual mix-up. lock (/lɒk/) and lola (['lɔ.lɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lock is recorded at frequency rank #22,711, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɒk/. lola is at rank #9,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced ['lɔ.lɐ].

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 32233, this pair ranks #35,631 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lock vs lola

Shared letters: lo. Private to "lock": ck. Private to "lola": a.

"lock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locklcok · llock · locck · lockk · lokc · olck
  • lolalloa · llola · loal · lolla · olla

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lock" and "lola" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɒk/ versus ['lɔ.lɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lock" or "lola"?
"lola" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,522 in our Portuguese list, against #22,711 for "lock". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,631 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lock" and "lola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loch vs lock". 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 #35,631 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