cadelavscancelaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,142
“cadela” frequency rank
#22,242
“cancela” frequency rank
32384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadela cancela
Definition animal fêmea da espécie Canis lupus familiaris, cujo macho é o cão porta ou portão gradeado, de ferro ou madeira

Where the eye mixes cadela and cancela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadela runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against cancela's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cadela
7 ch
cancela

Look-alike desk: cadela vs cancela

A purely visual mix-up. cadela (/kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/) and cancela (/kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/) 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 32384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadela is recorded at frequency rank #10,142, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/. cancela is at rank #22,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/.

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 32384, this pair ranks #35,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cadela vs cancela

Shared letters: acel. Private to "cadela": d. Private to "cancela": n.

"cadela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cancela" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadela ← acdela · caddela · cadeal · cadella · cadlea · caedla · ccadela · cdaela
  • cancela ← acncela · cacnela · canccela · canceal · cancella · canclea · canecla · canncela

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cadela" and "cancela" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/ versus /kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cadela" or "cancela"?
"cadela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,142 in our Portuguese list, against #22,242 for "cancela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cadela" and "cancela" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cancela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadela" and "cancela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cadela 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 #35,439 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