Which to use
“calção” and “calhau” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,621
- “calção” frequency rank
- #41,869
- “calhau” frequency rank
- 71490
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | calção | calhau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | calça curta | fragmento de rocha dura; pedra solta; seixo; rebo |
Where the eye mixes calção and calhau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. calção and calhau follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses calção with calhau
A purely visual mix-up. calção (/kaɫ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and calhau (/kɐ.ˈʎaw/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
calção is recorded at frequency rank #29,621, classified as anoun, pronounced /kaɫ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. calhau is at rank #41,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈʎaw/.
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 71490, this pair ranks #3,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of calção vs calhau
Shared letters: acl. Private to "calção": oãç. Private to "calhau": hu.
"calção" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "calhau" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- calhau ← aclhau · cahlau · calahu · calhhau · calhua · callhau · ccalhau · clahau
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "calção" and "calhau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "calção" or "calhau" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "calção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "calhau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "calção" and "calhau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calhau vs chau". 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 #3,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.