caladavsciladaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,304
“calada” frequency rank
#16,704
“cilada” frequency rank
26008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calada cilada
Definition ato ou efeito de calar-se emboscada feita para ataque ou captura, de modo a atrair a pessoa até ela

Where the eye mixes calada and cilada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
calada
6 ch
cilada

Why the eye confuses calada with cilada

A purely visual mix-up. calada (/kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/) and cilada (/siˈla.dɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “calada” becomes i in “cilada”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calada is recorded at frequency rank #9,304, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/. cilada is at rank #16,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced /siˈla.dɐ/.

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 26008, this pair ranks #43,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calada vs cilada

Shared letters: acdl. Private to "calada": -. Private to "cilada": i.

"calada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cilada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caladaaclada · caalda · calaad · caladda · caldaa · callada · ccalada · claada
  • ciladaccilada · cialda · cilaad · ciladda · cildaa · cillada · cliada · iclada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "calada" and "cilada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/ versus /siˈla.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "calada" or "cilada" show up more?
"calada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,304 in our Portuguese list, against #16,704 for "cilada". 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 "calada" and "cilada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cilada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calada" and "cilada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calada vs cassada". 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 #43,218 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