CvsceTell them apart

Quick tell: C is a noun, ce is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“C” is a noun and “ce” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#372
“C” frequency rank
#3,311
“ce” frequency rank
3683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature C ce
Definition linguagem de programação de alto nível para computadores, voltada para o desenvolvimento de sistemas e aplicativos o que

Letter map: C vs ce

Shared letters muted; letters that set C and ce apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

1 ch
C
2 ch
ce

Part-of-speech tell for C / ce

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: C is anoun and ceapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “C” sits inside “ce”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

C is recorded at frequency rank #372, classified as anoun. ce is at rank #3,311, tagged as apron, pronounced /t͡ʃe/.

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 3683, this pair ranks #71,410 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of C vs ce

Shared letters: c. Private to "C": -. Private to "ce": e.

"C" · 1 letters · shape C  ·  "ce" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "C" and "ce" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "C" is a noun and "ce" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "C" or "ce" show up more?
"C" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #372 in our Portuguese list, against #3,311 for "ce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "C" and "ce".

  • Full dictionary entry for "C" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,410 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "C" and "ce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ce vs cepa". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #71,410 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