lui vs luto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#34,790
“lui” frequency rank: #5,112
“luto” frequency rank: 39902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lui	luto
Definition	alugar (tomar de aluguel)	dor causada pela morte de alguém ou por grande calamidade

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lui and luto apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

lui

4 ch

luto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lui is /ˈlu.i/. while luto is /ˈlu.tu/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lui is recorded at frequency rank #34,790, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlu.i/.. luto is at rank #5,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.tu/.

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 39902, this pair ranks #26,277 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lui vs luto

Shared letters: lu. Private to "lui": i. Private to "luto": ot.

"lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "luto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

luto ← lluto · ltuo · luot · lutto · ulto

Frequency comparison

lui#34,790

luto#5,112

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lui" and "luto" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lui" is a verb and "luto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "lui" or "luto"?

"luto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,112 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.

Remembering lui vs luto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lui”; for a noun, it's “luto”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lui” entry
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