caldovscalorConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,677
“caldo” frequency rank
#1,839
“calor” frequency rank
15516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caldo calor
Definition alimento líquido que se prepara cozendo em água substâncias alimentícias sensação experimentada em um ambiente aquecido ou ao tocar um objeto quente

Where the eye mixes caldo and calor

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

5 ch
caldo
5 ch
calor

Visual trap between caldo and calor

A purely visual mix-up. caldo (/ˈkaɫ.du/) and calor (/kɐ.ˈloɾ/) 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 15516, 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/. calor is at rank #1,839, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈloɾ/.

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 15516, this pair ranks #56,283 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caldo vs calor

Shared letters: aclo. Private to "caldo": d. Private to "calor": r.

"caldo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "calor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caldoacldo · cadlo · calddo · calldo · calod · ccaldo · clado
  • caloraclor · callor · calorr · caolr · ccalor

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caldo" for "calor" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkaɫ.du/ versus /kɐ.ˈloɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caldo" or "calor"?
"calor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,839 in our Portuguese list, against #13,677 for "caldo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "caldo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,283 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caldo" and "calor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagão vs caldo". 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 #56,283 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