Which to use
“cadência” and “carência” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,271
- “cadência” frequency rank
- #9,633
- “carência” frequency rank
- 40904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cadência | carência |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | suavidade de estilo | falta, penúria, privação |
Where the eye mixes cadência and carência
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. cadência and carência follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between cadência and carência
A purely visual mix-up. cadência (/kɐ.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/) and carência (/kɐ.ˈɾẽ.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 a single letter - d in “cadência” becomes r in “carência”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cadência is recorded at frequency rank #31,271, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/. carência is at rank #9,633, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾẽ.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 40904, this pair ranks #25,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cadência vs carência
Shared letters: acinê. Private to "cadência": d. Private to "carência": r.
"cadência" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "carência" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cadência" and "carência" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cadência" or "carência"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cadência" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carência" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cadência" and "carência" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cadeia vs cadência". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #25,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.