cabeçavscadelaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#361
“cabeça” frequency rank
#10,142
“cadela” frequency rank
10503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabeça cadela
Definition parte do corpo humano, onde se localizam o cérebro, protegido pelo crânio, e a face, ligada ao tronco pelo pescoço animal fêmea da espécie Canis lupus familiaris, cujo macho é o cão

Where the eye mixes cabeça and cadela

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

6 ch
cabeça
6 ch
cadela

Visual trap between cabeça and cadela

A purely visual mix-up. cabeça (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/) 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 10503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabeça is recorded at frequency rank #361, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/. 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 10503, this pair ranks #62,581 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cabeça vs cadela

Shared letters: ace. Private to "cabeça": . Private to "cadela": dl.

"cabeça" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cadela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadelaacdela · caddela · cadeal · cadella · cadlea · caedla · ccadela · cdaela

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabeça" and "cadela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/ versus /kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cabeça" vs "cadela" - which ranks higher?
"cabeça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #361 in our Portuguese list, against #10,142 for "cadela". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabeça" 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 #62,581 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabeça" and "cadela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cadela vs capeta". 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 #62,581 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