Which to use
“calção” and “cartão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,621
- “calção” frequency rank
- #1,769
- “cartão” frequency rank
- 31390
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | calção | cartão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | calça curta | papel forte |
Where the eye mixes calção and cartão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. calção and cartão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: calção vs cartão
A purely visual mix-up. calção (/kaɫ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and cartão (/kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) 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 31390, 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/. cartão is at rank #1,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.
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 31390, this pair ranks #36,723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of calção vs cartão
Shared letters: acoã. Private to "calção": lç. Private to "cartão": rt.
"calção" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "calção" for "cartão" ever safe?
Frequency check: "calção" vs "cartão" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "calção" and "cartão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "calção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cartão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "calção" and "cartão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calção vs caução". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #36,723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.