Which to use
“cada” is a pronoun and “cal” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #144
- “cada” frequency rank
- #11,223
- “cal” frequency rank
- 11367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cada | cal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | indica, individualizando, um elemento de um grupo ou conjunto: | nome vulgar do óxido de cálcio (também chamado cal viva, cal virgem ou cal cáustica) |
Where the eye mixes cada and cal
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cada with cal
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cada is /ˈkɐ.dɐ/ while cal is /ˈkaɫ/. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cada is recorded at frequency rank #144, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈkɐ.dɐ/. cal is at rank #11,223, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaɫ/.
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 11367, this pair ranks #61,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cada vs cal
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cada": d. Private to "cal": l.
"cada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cal" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cada ← acda · caad · cadda · ccada · cdaa
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cada" and "cal" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cada" or "cal" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cada" and "cal" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cada" and "cal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cal vs chau". 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 #61,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.