lui vs luxo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#34,790
“lui” frequency rank: #3,781
“luxo” frequency rank: 38571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lui	luxo
Definition	alugar (tomar de aluguel)	ostentação de riqueza, esplendor, fausto:

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

lui

4 ch

luxo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lui is /ˈlu.i/. while luxo is /ˈlu.ʃu/. 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 38571, 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/.. luxo is at rank #3,781, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlu.ʃu/.

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 38571, this pair ranks #27,849 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lui vs luxo

Shared letters: lu. Private to "lui": i. Private to "luxo": ox.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

luxo ← lluxo · luox · luxxo · lxuo · ulxo

Frequency comparison

lui#34,790

luxo#3,781

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"luxo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,781 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 luxo

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 “luxo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lui” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable