caçadovscalãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“caçado” and “calão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,617
“caçado” frequency rank
#39,032
“calão” frequency rank
77649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caçado calão
Definition que foi abatido em uma caça que não trabalha tanto quanto deveria

Where the eye mixes caçado and calão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caçado runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against calão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
caçado
5 ch
calão

Why the eye confuses caçado with calão

A purely visual mix-up. caçado (/ka.ˈsa.du/) and calão (/kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) 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 77649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caçado is recorded at frequency rank #38,617, classified as anadj, pronounced /ka.ˈsa.du/. calão is at rank #39,032, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.

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 77649, this pair ranks #1,824 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caçado vs calão

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caçado": dç. Private to "calão": lã.

"caçado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "calão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caçado" for "calão" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ka.ˈsa.du/ versus /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caçado" vs "calão" - which ranks higher?
"caçado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,617 in our Portuguese list, against #39,032 for "calão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "caçado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,824 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caçado" and "calão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calão vs ciao". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,824 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list