lolavslousaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,522
“lola” frequency rank
#32,242
“lousa” frequency rank
41764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lola lousa
Definition órgão genital feminino quadro-negro

Where the eye mixes lola and lousa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lola runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lousa's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
lola
5 ch
lousa

Look-alike desk: lola vs lousa

A purely visual mix-up. lola (['lɔ.lɐ]) and lousa (/ˈlow.zɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lola is recorded at frequency rank #9,522, classified as anoun, pronounced ['lɔ.lɐ]. lousa is at rank #32,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlow.zɐ/.

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 41764, this pair ranks #24,109 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lola vs lousa

Shared letters: alo. Private to "lola": -. Private to "lousa": su.

"lola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lousa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lola ← lloa · llola · loal · lolla · olla
  • lousa ← llousa · losua · louas · loussa · luosa · olusa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lola" for "lousa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (['lɔ.lɐ] versus /ˈlow.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lola" vs "lousa" - which ranks higher?
"lola" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,522 in our Portuguese list, against #32,242 for "lousa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lola" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lousa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,109 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lola" and "lousa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loiça vs lousa". 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 #24,109 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