caldovscaloWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,677
“caldo” frequency rank
#29,256
“calo” frequency rank
42933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caldo calo
Definition alimento líquido que se prepara cozendo em água substâncias alimentícias porção dura da pele que se tornou grossa e rígida por atrito repetido

Where the eye mixes caldo and calo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
caldo
4 ch
calo

Why the eye confuses caldo with calo

A purely visual mix-up. caldo (/ˈkaɫ.du/) and calo (/ˈka.lu/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caldo is recorded at frequency rank #13,677, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaɫ.du/. calo is at rank #29,256, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.lu/.

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 42933, this pair ranks #22,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caldo vs calo

Shared letters: aclo. Private to "caldo": d. Private to "calo": -.

"caldo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "calo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caldoacldo · cadlo · calddo · calldo · calod · ccaldo · clado
  • caloaclo · callo · caol · ccalo · clao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caldo" and "calo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkaɫ.du/ versus /ˈka.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caldo" or "calo" show up more?
"caldo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,677 in our Portuguese list, against #29,256 for "calo". 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 "caldo" and "calo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caldo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caldo" and "calo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calo vs ciao". 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 #22,765 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