caber vs câncer, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“caber” is a verb and “câncer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,454
“caber” frequency rank: #1,607
“câncer” frequency rank: 19061
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	caber	câncer
Definition	poder ser contido em	doença caracterizada por rápida multiplicação celular irrefreada de uma célula que teve seu ADN danosamente modificado

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set caber and câncer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

caber

6 ch

câncer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caber is /kɐ.ˈbeɾ/ while câncer is /ˈkɐ̃.sɛɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19061, 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/. câncer is at rank #1,607, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃.sɛɾ/.

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 19061, this pair ranks #51,781 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caber vs câncer

Shared letters: cer. Private to "caber": ab. Private to "câncer": nâ.

"caber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "câncer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

caber ← acber · cabber · caberr · cabre · caebr · cbaer · ccaber

Frequency comparison

caber#17,454

câncer#1,607

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caber" and "câncer" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caber" is a verb and "câncer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "caber" or "câncer"?

"câncer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,607 in our Portuguese list, against #17,454 for "caber". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering caber vs câncer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “caber”; for a noun, it's “câncer”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “caber” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable