cadeiavsCátiaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,838
“cadeia” frequency rank
#27,428
“Cátia” frequency rank
29266
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadeia Cátia
Definition local que serve de detenção temporária para criminosos de baixa periculosidade prenome feminino

Where the eye mixes cadeia and Cátia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cadeia runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against Cátia's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cadeia
5 ch
Cátia

Look-alike desk: cadeia vs Cátia

A purely visual mix-up. cadeia (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɐ/) and Cátia (/ˈka.t͡ʃjɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29266, 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/. Cátia is at rank #27,428, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.t͡ʃjɐ/.

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 29266, this pair ranks #39,425 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cadeia vs Cátia

Shared letters: aci. Private to "cadeia": de. Private to "Cátia": tá.

"cadeia" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "Cátia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadeia ← acdeia · caddeia · cadeai · cadiea · caedia · ccadeia · cdaeia

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cadeia" and "Cátia" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɐ/ versus /ˈka.t͡ʃjɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cadeia" or "Cátia"?
"cadeia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,838 in our Portuguese list, against #27,428 for "Cátia". 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 "cadeia" and "Cátia" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadeia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Cátia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,425 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadeia" and "Cátia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabina vs Cátia". 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 #39,425 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