lousavslunaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,242
“lousa” frequency rank
#9,712
“luna” frequency rank
41954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lousa luna
Definition quadro-negro lua

Where the eye mixes lousa and luna

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

5 ch
lousa
4 ch
luna

Visual trap between lousa and luna

A purely visual mix-up. lousa (/ˈlow.zɐ/) and luna (/ˈluna/) 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 41954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lousa is recorded at frequency rank #32,242, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlow.zɐ/. luna is at rank #9,712, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈluna/.

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 41954, this pair ranks #23,891 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lousa vs luna

Shared letters: alu. Private to "lousa": os. Private to "luna": n.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lousa ← llousa · losua · louas · loussa · luosa · olusa
  • luna ← lluna · lnua · luan · lunna · ulna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lousa" and "luna" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlow.zɐ/ versus /ˈluna/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lousa" or "luna"?
"luna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,712 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lousa" and "luna" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lousa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,891 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lousa" and "luna" 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 #23,891 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