calãovscampoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: calão is a adjective, campo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calão” is an adjective and “campo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,032
“calão” frequency rank
#488
“campo” frequency rank
39520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calão campo
Definition que não trabalha tanto quanto deveria região fora da cidade

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set calão and campo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
calão
5 ch
campo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calão is /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/ while campo is /ˈkɐ̃.pu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calão is recorded at frequency rank #39,032, classified as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. campo is at rank #488, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃.pu/.

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 39520, this pair ranks #26,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calão vs campo

Shared letters: aco. Private to "calão": . Private to "campo": mp.

"calão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "campo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • campoacmpo · cammpo · camop · camppo · capmo · ccampo · cmapo

Frequency comparison

calão#39,032
campo#488

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "calão" and "campo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calão" is an adjective and "campo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "calão" or "campo"?
"campo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #488 in our Portuguese list, against #39,032 for "calão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering calão vs campo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “calão”; for a noun, it's “campo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “calão” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list