Which to use
“cagar” is a verb and “calão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,037
- “cagar” frequency rank
- #39,032
- “calão” frequency rank
- 54069
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cagar | calão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | expelir pelo ânus; defecar | que não trabalha tanto quanto deveria |
Where the eye mixes cagar and calão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cagar (CVCVC) and calão (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: cagar vs calão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cagar is /kɐ'ɣaɾ/ while calão is /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cagar is recorded at frequency rank #15,037, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐ'ɣaɾ/. calão is at rank #39,032, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 54069, this pair ranks #11,570 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cagar vs calão
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cagar": gr. Private to "calão": loã.
"cagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "calão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cagar ← acgar · caagr · cagarr · caggar · ccagar · cgaar
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cagar" and "calão" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cagar" or "calão"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cagar" and "calão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cagar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "calão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,570 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cagar" and "calão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calão vs ciao". 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 #11,570 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.