Which to use
“cagão” is an adjective and “cartão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,313
- “cagão” frequency rank
- #1,769
- “cartão” frequency rank
- 45082
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cagão | cartão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cagão, que defeca com muita frequência | papel forte |
Where the eye mixes cagão and cartão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cagão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against cartão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cagão and cartão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cagão is /kɐ.'gaŋ/ e /kɐ.'goŋ/ while cartão is /kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45082, 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/. cartão is at rank #1,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.
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 45082, this pair ranks #20,348 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cagão vs cartão
Shared letters: acoã. Private to "cagão": g. Private to "cartão": rt.
"cagão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cagão" and "cartão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cagão" or "cartão" show up more?
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 "cagão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cartão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,348 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cagão" and "cartão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagão vs ciao". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #20,348 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.