cacovsciaoTell them apart

Quick tell: caco is a noun, ciao is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caco” is a noun and “ciao” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,952
“caco” frequency rank
#47,244
“ciao” frequency rank
69196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco ciao
Definition fragmento ou pedaço quebrado de louça, barro, vidro, mármore etc olá

Letter map: caco vs ciao

Shared letters muted; letters that set caco and ciao apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. caco (CVCV) and ciao (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
caco
4 ch
ciao

Grammar separator: caco vs ciao

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: caco is anoun and ciaoanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caco is recorded at frequency rank #21,952, classified as anoun. ciao is at rank #47,244, tagged as anintj, pronounced [ˈtʃaː.o], /ˈtʃao/.

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 69196, this pair ranks #4,020 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs ciao

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caco": -. Private to "ciao": i.

"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ciao" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caco ← acco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • ciao ← caio · cciao · cioa · icao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caco" and "ciao" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caco" is a noun and "ciao" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caco" or "ciao" show up more?
"caco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,952 in our Portuguese list, against #47,244 for "ciao". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "caco" and "ciao".

  • Full dictionary entry for "caco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ciao" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,020 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caco" and "ciao" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chau vs ciao". 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 #4,020 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