Which to use
“cabrão” is a noun and “cobro” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,163
- “cabrão” frequency rank
- #32,110
- “cobro” frequency rank
- 70273
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabrão | cobro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o macho da cabra; bode | primeira pessoa do singular do presente indicativo do verbo cobrar |
Where the eye mixes cabrão and cobro
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cabrão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against cobro's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cabrão and cobro
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cabrão is /kɐ.ˈbɾɐ̃w̃/ while cobro is /ˈko.bɾu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70273, 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/. cobro is at rank #32,110, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈko.bɾu/.
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 70273, this pair ranks #3,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cabrão vs cobro
Shared letters: bcor. Private to "cabrão": aã. Private to "cobro": -.
"cabrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cobro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cobro ← cboro · ccobro · cobbro · cobor · cobrro · corbo · ocbro
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cabrão" and "cobro" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cabrão" vs "cobro" - which ranks higher?
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 "cobro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabrão" and "cobro" 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 #3,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.