cadelavscelaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,142
“cadela” frequency rank
#7,875
“cela” frequency rank
18017
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadela cela
Definition animal fêmea da espécie Canis lupus familiaris, cujo macho é o cão aposento de prisioneiros

Where the eye mixes cadela and cela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cadela
4 ch
cela

Visual trap between cadela and cela

A purely visual mix-up. cadela (/kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/) and cela (/ˈsɛ.la/) 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 18017, 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/. cela is at rank #7,875, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.la/.

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 18017, this pair ranks #53,082 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cadela vs cela

Shared letters: acel. Private to "cadela": d. Private to "cela": -.

"cadela" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadelaacdela · caddela · cadeal · cadella · cadlea · caedla · ccadela · cdaela
  • celaccela · ceal · cella · clea · ecla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cadela" and "cela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈdɛ.lɐ/ versus /ˈsɛ.la/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cadela" vs "cela" - which ranks higher?
"cela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,875 in our Portuguese list, against #10,142 for "cadela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cadela" and "cela" 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 "cela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,082 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadela" and "cela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cela 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 #53,082 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