Which to use
“cabrão” and “carrão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,163
- “cabrão” frequency rank
- #30,869
- “carrão” frequency rank
- 69032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabrão | carrão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o macho da cabra; bode | andorinhão-real, (Tachymarptis melba) |
Where the eye mixes cabrão and carrão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cabrão and carrão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between cabrão and carrão
A purely visual mix-up. cabrão (/kɐ.ˈbɾɐ̃w̃/) 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 a single letter - b in “cabrão” becomes r in “carrão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69032, 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/. 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 69032, this pair ranks #4,065 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cabrão vs carrão
Shared letters: acorã. Private to "cabrão": b. Private to "carrão": -.
"cabrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "carrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cabrão" for "carrão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cabrão" or "carrão"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabrão" 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 #4,065 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabrão" and "carrão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabrão vs caução". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #4,065 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.