calçadovscauçãoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#23,233
“calçado” frequency rank
#43,325
“caução” frequency rank
66558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calçado caução
Definition abrigado com calçado valor depositado como garantia de realização de um compromisso

Letter map: calçado vs caução

Shared letters muted; letters that set calçado and caução apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. calçado runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against caução's 6 (CVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
calçado
6 ch
caução

Role in the sentence - calçado and caução

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: calçado is anadjective and cauçãoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calçado is recorded at frequency rank #23,233, classified as anadj, pronounced /kɐw.ˈsa.du/. caução is at rank #43,325, tagged as anoun.

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 66558, this pair ranks #4,949 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of calçado vs caução

Shared letters: acoç. Private to "calçado": dl. Private to "caução": uã.

"calçado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "caução" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "calçado" and "caução" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calçado" is an adjective and "caução" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "calçado" or "caução" show up more?
"calçado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,233 in our Portuguese list, against #43,325 for "caução". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "calçado" and "caução".

  • Full dictionary entry for "calçado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caução" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,949 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calçado" and "caução" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caução vs caudal". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #4,949 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