cardo
[ˈkaɾð̞o]
The verdict
“cardo” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #42,867 in Spanish word frequency and used as a noun.
- #42,867
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nombre común dado a múltiples especies de plantas en las familias de las asteráceas, las apiáceas y las dipsacáceas, caracterizadas por un tallo herbáceo vertical de gran porte, tachonado de espina...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cardo |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈkaɾð̞o] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #42,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cardo” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for cardo is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈkaɾð̞o]. Corpus data places it at rank #42,867 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cardo, with forms such as "acrdo", "cadro", and "carddo". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "creo", "caso", "cero", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Spanish form is cardo, spelled C-A-R-D-O.
Definition
- 1Nombre común dado a múltiples especies de plantas en las familias de las asteráceas, las apiáceas y las dipsacáceas, caracterizadas por un tallo herbáceo vertical de gran porte, tachonado de espinas, e inflorescencias terminales en forma de densos capítulos. Muchas especies son comestibles.
- 2(Cynara cardunculus) Cardo comestible. El cultivado en huerta es de hojas carnosas en forma de pencas, de color verde claro que puede alcanzar hasta un metro de altura.
- 3Persona de carácter áspero o agresivo.
- 4Persona fea. ^([cita requerida]).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acrdo,cadro,carddo,carod,carrdo,ccardo,crado
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cardo - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cardo"?
What does "cardo" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “cardo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is C-A-R-D-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈkaɾð̞o] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “creo” - see the side-by-side comparison. cardo vs creo
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.