Which to use
“cadeia” and “cadência” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,838
- “cadeia” frequency rank
- #31,271
- “cadência” frequency rank
- 33109
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cadeia | cadência |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | local que serve de detenção temporária para criminosos de baixa periculosidade | suavidade de estilo |
Where the eye mixes cadeia and cadência
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadeia runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against cadência's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cadeia and cadência
A purely visual mix-up. cadeia (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɐ/) and cadência (/kɐ.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cadeia is recorded at frequency rank #1,838, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɐ/. cadência is at rank #31,271, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/.
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 33109, this pair ranks #34,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cadeia vs cadência
Shared letters: acdi. Private to "cadeia": e. Private to "cadência": nê.
"cadeia" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "cadência" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cadeia ← acdeia · caddeia · cadeai · cadiea · caedia · ccadeia · cdaeia
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cadeia" for "cadência" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cadeia" or "cadência" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cadeia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cadência" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cadeia" and "cadência" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cadeia vs capeta". 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 #34,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.