cabervscagarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,454
“caber” frequency rank
#15,037
“cagar” frequency rank
32491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caber cagar
Definition poder ser contido em expelir pelo ânus; defecar

Where the eye mixes caber and cagar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
caber
5 ch
cagar

Look-alike desk: caber vs cagar

A purely visual mix-up. caber (/kɐ.ˈbeɾ/) and cagar (/kɐ'ɣaɾ/) 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 32491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caber is recorded at frequency rank #17,454, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbeɾ/. cagar is at rank #15,037, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɐ'ɣaɾ/.

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 32491, this pair ranks #35,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caber vs cagar

Shared letters: acr. Private to "caber": be. Private to "cagar": g.

"caber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caberacber · cabber · caberr · cabre · caebr · cbaer · ccaber
  • cagaracgar · caagr · cagarr · caggar · ccagar · cgaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caber" and "cagar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈbeɾ/ versus /kɐ'ɣaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caber" or "cagar" show up more?
"cagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,037 in our Portuguese list, against #17,454 for "caber". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "caber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cagar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caber" and "cagar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagar vs coagir". 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 #35,302 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