caçulavscancelaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,242
“caçula” frequency rank
#22,242
“cancela” frequency rank
38484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caçula cancela
Definition vagem de ervilha, vagem de legume, de giesta porta ou portão gradeado, de ferro ou madeira

Where the eye mixes caçula and cancela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caçula runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against cancela's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
caçula
7 ch
cancela

Visual trap between caçula and cancela

A purely visual mix-up. caçula (/ka.'su.la/ ou /ka.θu.la/) and cancela (/kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/) 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 38484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caçula is recorded at frequency rank #16,242, classified as anoun, pronounced /ka.'su.la/ ou /ka.θu.la/. cancela is at rank #22,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/.

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 38484, this pair ranks #27,970 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caçula vs cancela

Shared letters: acl. Private to "caçula": uç. Private to "cancela": en.

"caçula" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cancela" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cancela ← acncela · cacnela · canccela · canceal · cancella · canclea · canecla · canncela

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caçula" and "cancela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ka.'su.la/ ou /ka.θu.la/ versus /kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caçula" or "cancela" show up more?
"caçula" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,242 in our Portuguese list, against #22,242 for "cancela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caçula" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cancela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,970 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caçula" and "cancela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabala vs caçula". 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 #27,970 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