loudvslousaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#19,206
“loud” frequency rank
#32,242
“lousa” frequency rank
51448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loud lousa
Definition alto, elevado, intenso (em se falando de som) quadro-negro

Where the eye mixes loud and lousa

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

4 ch
loud
5 ch
lousa

Look-alike desk: loud vs lousa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loud is /laʊd/ while lousa is /ˈlow.zɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loud is recorded at frequency rank #19,206, classified as anadj, pronounced /laʊd/. 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 51448, this pair ranks #13,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of loud vs lousa

Shared letters: lou. Private to "loud": d. Private to "lousa": as.

"loud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "lousa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loud ← lloud · lodu · loudd · luod · olud
  • lousa ← llousa · losua · louas · loussa · luosa · olusa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loud" and "lousa" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loud" is an adjective and "lousa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "loud" or "lousa" show up more?
"loud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,206 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "loud" 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 #13,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loud" and "lousa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loch vs loud". 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 #13,596 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