lunarvslutarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: lunar is a adjective, lutar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lunar” is an adjective and “lutar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,935
“lunar” frequency rank
#1,752
“lutar” frequency rank
14687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lunar lutar
Definition relativo à Lua, da Lua travar luta

Where the eye mixes lunar and lutar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
lunar
5 ch
lutar

Look-alike desk: lunar vs lutar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lunar is /lu.ˈnaɾ/ while lutar is /lu.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “lunar” becomes t in “lutar”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lunar is recorded at frequency rank #12,935, classified as anadj, pronounced /lu.ˈnaɾ/. lutar is at rank #1,752, tagged as averb, pronounced /lu.ˈtaɾ/.

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 14687, this pair ranks #57,327 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lunar vs lutar

Shared letters: alru. Private to "lunar": n. Private to "lutar": t.

"lunar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lutar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lunarllunar · lnuar · luanr · lunarr · lunnar · lunra · ulnar
  • lutarllutar · ltuar · luatr · lutarr · lutra · luttar · ultar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lunar" and "lutar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lunar" is an adjective and "lutar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lunar" or "lutar"?
"lutar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,752 in our Portuguese list, against #12,935 for "lunar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lunar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lutar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,327 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lunar" and "lutar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lunar vs lunares". 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 #57,327 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