Which to use
“cagão” and “canhão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,313
- “cagão” frequency rank
- #11,596
- “canhão” frequency rank
- 54909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cagão | canhão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cagão, que defeca com muita frequência | mulher muito feia |
Where the eye mixes cagão and canhão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cagão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against canhão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cagão with canhão
A purely visual mix-up. cagão (/kɐ.'gaŋ/ e /kɐ.'goŋ/) and canhão (/kɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/) 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 54909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cagão is recorded at frequency rank #43,313, classified as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.'gaŋ/ e /kɐ.'goŋ/. canhão is at rank #11,596, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/.
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 54909, this pair ranks #10,945 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cagão vs canhão
Shared letters: acoã. Private to "cagão": g. Private to "canhão": hn.
"cagão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "canhão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cagão" and "canhão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cagão" or "canhão" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cagão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "canhão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,945 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cagão" and "canhão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagão vs ciao". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #10,945 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.