loucovslucaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: louco is a adjective, luca is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“louco” is an adjective and “luca” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,649
“louco” frequency rank
#17,068
“luca” frequency rank
18717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature louco luca
Definition que perdeu a razão, maluco, demente, vesano, amente o mesmo que carta do baralho

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set louco and luca apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
louco
4 ch
luca

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: louco is anadjective and lucaanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

louco is recorded at frequency rank #1,649, classified as anadj. luca is at rank #17,068, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.kɐ/.

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 18717, this pair ranks #52,195 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of louco vs luca

Shared letters: clu. Private to "louco": o. Private to "luca": a.

"louco" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "luca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loucollouco · locuo · loucco · louoc · luoco · oluco
  • lucalcua · lluca · luac · lucca · ulca

Frequency comparison

louco#1,649
luca#17,068

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "louco" and "luca" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "louco" is an adjective and "luca" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "louco" or "luca"?
"louco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,649 in our Portuguese list, against #17,068 for "luca". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering louco vs luca

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “louco”; for a noun, it's “luca”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “louco” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list