cadavscenaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#144
“cada” frequency rank
#1,139
“cena” frequency rank
1283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cada cena
Definition indica, individualizando, um elemento de um grupo ou conjunto: palco

Where the eye mixes cada and cena

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

4 ch
cada
4 ch
cena

Visual trap between cada and cena

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cada is /ˈkɐ.dɐ/ while cena is /ˈse.nɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1283, 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/. cena is at rank #1,139, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.nɐ/.

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 1283, this pair ranks #74,300 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cada vs cena

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cada": d. Private to "cena": en.

"cada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cena" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadaacda · caad · cadda · ccada · cdaa
  • cenaccena · cean · cenna · cnea · ecna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cada" and "cena" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cada" is a pronoun and "cena" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cada" or "cena" show up more?
"cada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #144 in our Portuguese list, against #1,139 for "cena". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cena" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,300 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cada" and "cena" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cena 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 #74,300 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