caixotevschicoteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“caixote” and “chicote” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,164
“caixote” frequency rank
#21,394
“chicote” frequency rank
59558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caixote chicote
Definition caixa para transporte de mercadorias; caixão instrumento para bater, principalmente em animais de carga ou montaria, constituído de uma corda ligada a um cabo mais rígido

Where the eye mixes caixote and chicote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. caixote (CVVCVCV) and chicote (CCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
caixote
7 ch
chicote

Why the eye confuses caixote with chicote

A purely visual mix-up. caixote (/kaj.ˈʃɔ.tɨ/) and chicote (/ʃi.ˈkɔ.tɨ/) 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 59558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caixote is recorded at frequency rank #38,164, classified as anoun, pronounced /kaj.ˈʃɔ.tɨ/. chicote is at rank #21,394, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃi.ˈkɔ.tɨ/.

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 59558, this pair ranks #8,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caixote vs chicote

Shared letters: ceiot. Private to "caixote": ax. Private to "chicote": h.

"caixote" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "chicote" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caixote ← acixote · caioxte · caixoet · caixotte · caixtoe · caixxote · caxiote · ccaixote
  • chicote ← cchicote · chciote · chhicote · chiccote · chicoet · chicotte · chictoe · chiocte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caixote" for "chicote" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kaj.ˈʃɔ.tɨ/ versus /ʃi.ˈkɔ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caixote" or "chicote" show up more?
"chicote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,394 in our Portuguese list, against #38,164 for "caixote". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "caixote" and "chicote" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caixote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chicote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caixote" and "chicote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caixote vs capote". 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 #8,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list