Which to use
“cabra” and “cabrão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,222
- “cabra” frequency rank
- #38,163
- “cabrão” frequency rank
- 49385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabra | cabrão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quadrúpede mamífero e ruminante com numerosas raças selvagens | o macho da cabra; bode |
Where the eye mixes cabra and cabrão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cabra runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against cabrão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cabra with cabrão
A purely visual mix-up. cabra (/ˈka.bɾɐ/) and cabrão (/kɐ.ˈbɾɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cabra is recorded at frequency rank #11,222, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.bɾɐ/. cabrão is at rank #38,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbɾɐ̃w̃/.
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 49385, this pair ranks #15,634 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cabra vs cabrão
Shared letters: abcr. Private to "cabra": -. Private to "cabrão": oã.
"cabra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cabrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cabra ← acbra · cabar · cabbra · cabrra · carba · cbara · ccabra
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cabra" and "cabrão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cabra" vs "cabrão" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cabrão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,634 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabra" and "cabrão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabrão vs caução". 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 #15,634 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.