Which to use
“cabra” and “carrão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,222
- “cabra” frequency rank
- #30,869
- “carrão” frequency rank
- 42091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabra | carrão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quadrúpede mamífero e ruminante com numerosas raças selvagens | andorinhão-real, (Tachymarptis melba) |
Where the eye mixes cabra and carrão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cabra runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against carrão'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 carrão
A purely visual mix-up. cabra (/ˈka.bɾɐ/) and carrão (singular: /ka.'raŋ/ ou /ka.'raw/) 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 42091, 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/. carrão is at rank #30,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced singular: /ka.'raŋ/ ou /ka.'raw/.
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 42091, this pair ranks #23,734 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cabra vs carrão
Shared letters: acr. Private to "cabra": b. Private to "carrão": oã.
"cabra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "carrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cabra ← acbra · cabar · cabbra · cabrra · carba · cbara · ccabra
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cabra" for "carrão" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cabra" or "carrão" show up more?
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 "carrão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,734 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabra" and "carrão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrão 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 #23,734 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.