cabrão vs cara, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cabrão” is a noun and “cara” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,163
“cabrão” frequency rank: #195
“cara” frequency rank: 38358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cabrão	cara
Definition	o macho da cabra; bode	em direção a, para, contra

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

cabrão

4 ch

cara

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cabrão is anoun and caraapreposition. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabrão is recorded at frequency rank #38,163, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbɾɐ̃w̃/. cara is at rank #195, tagged as aprep.

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 38358, this pair ranks #28,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabrão vs cara

Shared letters: acr. Private to "cabrão": boã. Private to "cara": -.

"cabrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

cara ← acra · caar · carra · ccara · craa

Frequency comparison

cabrão#38,163

cara#195

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cabrão" and "cara" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "cabrão" or "cara"?

"cara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #195 in our Portuguese list, against #38,163 for "cabrão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cabrão vs cara

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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