cadarçovscatarroTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,605
“cadarço” frequency rank
#44,261
“catarro” frequency rank
82866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadarço catarro
Definition fio de seda e tecido de seda de inferior qualidade; seda basta muco secretado, geralmente patológico

Where the eye mixes cadarço and catarro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadarço and catarro follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
cadarço
7 ch
catarro

Why the eye confuses cadarço with catarro

A purely visual mix-up. cadarço (/kɐ.'daɾ.sʊ/ ou /kɐ.'daɾ.θʊ/) and catarro (/kɐ.ˈta.Ru/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadarço is recorded at frequency rank #38,605, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.'daɾ.sʊ/ ou /kɐ.'daɾ.θʊ/. catarro is at rank #44,261, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈta.Ru/.

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 82866, this pair ranks #973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cadarço vs catarro

Shared letters: acor. Private to "cadarço": dç. Private to "catarro": t.

"cadarço" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "catarro" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • catarro ← actarro · caatrro · cataro · cataror · catraro · cattarro · ccatarro · ctaarro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cadarço" and "catarro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.'daɾ.sʊ/ ou /kɐ.'daɾ.θʊ/ versus /kɐ.ˈta.Ru/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cadarço" vs "catarro" - which ranks higher?
"cadarço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,605 in our Portuguese list, against #44,261 for "catarro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadarço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "catarro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadarço" and "catarro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catarro vs catarse". 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 #973 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