cabovscagãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cabo is a noun, cagão is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cabo” is a noun and “cagão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,092
“cabo” frequency rank
#43,313
“cagão” frequency rank
44405
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabo cagão
Definition patente militar abaixo do sargento e acima do soldado cagão, que defeca com muita frequência

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
cabo
5 ch
cagão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cabo is anoun and cagãoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44405, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabo is recorded at frequency rank #1,092, classified as anoun. cagão is at rank #43,313, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.'gaŋ/ e /kɐ.'goŋ/.

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 44405, this pair ranks #21,089 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabo vs cagão

Shared letters: aco. Private to "cabo": b. Private to "cagão": .

"cabo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cagão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caboacbo · cabbo · caob · cbao · ccabo

Frequency comparison

cabo#1,092
cagão#43,313

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cabo" and "cagão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cabo" is a noun and "cagão" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cabo" or "cagão"?
"cabo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,092 in our Portuguese list, against #43,313 for "cagão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cabo vs cagão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list