Which to use
“cabeça” is a noun and “careca” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #361
- “cabeça” frequency rank
- #10,848
- “careca” frequency rank
- 11209
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabeça | careca |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | parte do corpo humano, onde se localizam o cérebro, protegido pelo crânio, e a face, ligada ao tronco pelo pescoço | falta de cabelo na cabeça; calvo |
Where the eye mixes cabeça and careca
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cabeça vs careca
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cabeça is /kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/ while careca is /kɐ.ˈɾɛ.kɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11209, 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/. careca is at rank #10,848, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾɛ.kɐ/.
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 11209, this pair ranks #61,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cabeça vs careca
Shared letters: ace. Private to "cabeça": bç. Private to "careca": r.
"cabeça" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "careca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- careca ← carcea · careac · carecca · carreca · ccareca · craeca
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cabeça" for "careca" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cabeça" or "careca"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cabeça" and "careca" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabeça" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "careca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabeça" and "careca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "careca vs carrera". 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 #61,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.