cadavscarmaConfusable pair

Quick tell: cada is a pronoun, carma is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#144
“cada” frequency rank
#32,094
“carma” frequency rank
32238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cada carma
Definition indica, individualizando, um elemento de um grupo ou conjunto: segundo o hinduísmo e o budismo, a lei de causa e efeito, na qual todas as ações, boas ou más, de uma pessoa geram reações correspondentes nesta vida ou em encarnações futuras

Where the eye mixes cada and carma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cada
5 ch
carma

Why the eye confuses cada with carma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cada is /ˈkɐ.dɐ/ while carma is /ˈkɐɾmɐ/. 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 32238, 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/. carma is at rank #32,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐɾmɐ/.

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 32238, this pair ranks #35,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cada vs carma

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cada": d. Private to "carma": mr.

"cada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "carma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadaacda · caad · cadda · ccada · cdaa
  • carmaacrma · camra · caram · carmma · carrma · ccarma · crama

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cada" for "carma" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cada" is a pronoun and "carma" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cada" vs "carma" - which ranks higher?
"cada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #144 in our Portuguese list, against #32,094 for "carma". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cada" and "carma" 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 "carma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cada" and "carma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carma vs cerda". 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 #35,626 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