cabalavscadelaConfusable pair

Which to use

“cabala” and “cadela” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,212
“cabala” frequency rank
#10,142
“cadela” frequency rank
47354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabala cadela
Definition interpretação mística da Bíblia entre os judeus animal fêmea da espécie Canis lupus familiaris, cujo macho é o cão

Where the eye mixes cabala and cadela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cabala and cadela follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cabala
6 ch
cadela

Visual trap between cabala and cadela

A purely visual mix-up. cabala (/kɐ.ˈba.lɐ/) and cadela (/kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabala is recorded at frequency rank #37,212, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈba.lɐ/. cadela is at rank #10,142, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/.

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 47354, this pair ranks #17,906 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cabala vs cadela

Shared letters: acl. Private to "cabala": b. Private to "cadela": de.

"cabala" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cadela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabalaacbala · caabla · cabaal · caballa · cabbala · cablaa · cbaala · ccabala
  • cadelaacdela · caddela · cadeal · cadella · cadlea · caedla · ccadela · cdaela

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cabala" and "cadela" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈba.lɐ/ versus /kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cabala" vs "cadela" - which ranks higher?
"cadela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,142 in our Portuguese list, against #37,212 for "cabala". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cadela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,906 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabala" and "cadela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabala vs cabina". 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 #17,906 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