Which to use
“cais” is a noun and “cão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,845
- “cais” frequency rank
- #3,065
- “cão” frequency rank
- 13910
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cais | cão |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | cruel, brutal, dominador |
Where the eye mixes cais and cão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cais with cão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cais is /ˈkajʃ/ while cão is /ˈkɐ̃ũ̯/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13910, 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/. cão is at rank #3,065, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃ũ̯/.
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 13910, this pair ranks #58,305 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cais vs cão
Shared letters: c. Private to "cais": ais. Private to "cão": oã.
"cais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cão" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cais ← acis · caiss · casi · ccais · cias
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cais" and "cão" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cais" or "cão"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cais" and "cão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,305 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cais" and "cão" 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 #58,305 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.