lolvsluiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: lol is a intj, lui is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lol” is an intj and “lui” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,382
“lol” frequency rank
#34,790
“lui” frequency rank
50172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lol lui
Definition expressa risada a alguma coisa engraçada, risível, alternativamente a algo com um tanto de ironia alugar (tomar de aluguel)

Letter map: lol vs lui

Shared letters muted; letters that set lol and lui apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
lol
3 ch
lui

Part-of-speech tell for lol / lui

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lol is anintj and luiaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lol is recorded at frequency rank #15,382, classified as anintj. lui is at rank #34,790, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlu.i/..

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 50172, this pair ranks #14,820 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lol vs lui

Shared letters: l. Private to "lol": o. Private to "lui": iu.

"lol" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lol" and "lui" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lol" is an intj and "lui" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "lol" or "lui" show up more?
"lol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,382 in our Portuguese list, against #34,790 for "lui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lol" and "lui".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,820 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lol" and "lui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ludo vs lui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #14,820 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