Which to use
“cais” and “cama” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,845
- “cais” frequency rank
- #982
- “cama” frequency rank
- 11827
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cais | cama |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lugar à beira-mar, na margem do rio, nas estações de caminho-de-ferro ou do metropolitano apropriado para o embarque e desembarque de pessoas ou mercadorias | móvel, normalmente plano e macio, usado para dormir |
Where the eye mixes cais and cama
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cais with cama
A purely visual mix-up. cais (/ˈkajʃ/) and cama (/ˈkɐ.mɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cais is recorded at frequency rank #10,845, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkajʃ/. cama is at rank #982, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ.mɐ/.
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 11827, this pair ranks #60,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cais vs cama
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cais": is. Private to "cama": m.
"cais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cais" and "cama" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cais" or "cama" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cais" and "cama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cais vs coin". 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 #60,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.