cafeteiravscarteiraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,861
“cafeteira” frequency rank
#3,459
“carteira” frequency rank
34320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cafeteira carteira
Definition vasilha própria para fazer o café bolsa, geralmente de couro, com divisões para guardar dinheiro, papéis, etc

Where the eye mixes cafeteira and carteira

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. cafeteira runs 9 letters (CVCVCVVCV) against carteira's 8 (CVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
cafeteira
8 ch
carteira

Look-alike desk: cafeteira vs carteira

A purely visual mix-up. cafeteira (/kɐ.fɨ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/) and carteira (/kɐɾ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/) 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 34320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cafeteira is recorded at frequency rank #30,861, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.fɨ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/. carteira is at rank #3,459, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/.

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 34320, this pair ranks #32,981 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cafeteira vs carteira

Shared letters: aceirt. Private to "cafeteira": f. Private to "carteira": -.

"cafeteira" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCV  ·  "carteira" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cafeteiraacfeteira · caefteira · cafeetira · cafeteiar · cafeteirra · cafeteria · cafetiera · cafetteira
  • carteiraacrteira · caretira · carrteira · carteiar · carteirra · carteria · cartiera · cartteira

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cafeteira" and "carteira" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.fɨ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/ versus /kɐɾ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cafeteira" vs "carteira" - which ranks higher?
"carteira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,459 in our Portuguese list, against #30,861 for "cafeteira". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cafeteira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carteira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,981 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cafeteira" and "carteira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabeleira vs cafeteira". 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 #32,981 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