cadavscalãoConfusable pair

Quick tell: cada is a pronoun, calão is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cada” is a pronoun and “calão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#144
“cada” frequency rank
#39,032
“calão” frequency rank
39176
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cada calão
Definition indica, individualizando, um elemento de um grupo ou conjunto: que não trabalha tanto quanto deveria

Where the eye mixes cada and calão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cada
5 ch
calão

Look-alike desk: cada vs calão

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cada is /ˈkɐ.dɐ/ while calão is /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39176, 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/. 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 39176, this pair ranks #27,133 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cada vs calão

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cada": d. Private to "calão": loã.

"cada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "calão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadaacda · caad · cadda · ccada · cdaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cada" for "calão" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cada" is a pronoun and "calão" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cada" or "calão"?
"cada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #144 in our Portuguese list, against #39,032 for "calão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cada" 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 #27,133 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cada" and "calão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calão 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 #27,133 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