calharvscanhãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: calhar is a verb, canhão is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calhar” is a verb and “canhão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,321
“calhar” frequency rank
#11,596
“canhão” frequency rank
21917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calhar canhão
Definition coalhar, coagular mulher muito feia

Letter map: calhar vs canhão

Shared letters muted; letters that set calhar and canhão apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

6 ch
calhar
6 ch
canhão

Role in the sentence - calhar and canhão

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: calhar is averb and canhãoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calhar is recorded at frequency rank #10,321, classified as averb. canhão is at rank #11,596, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/.

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 21917, this pair ranks #48,231 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calhar vs canhão

Shared letters: ach. Private to "calhar": lr. Private to "canhão": noã.

"calhar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "canhão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calharaclhar · cahlar · calahr · calharr · calhhar · calhra · callhar · ccalhar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "calhar" for "canhão" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calhar" is a verb and "canhão" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "calhar" vs "canhão" - which ranks higher?
"calhar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,321 in our Portuguese list, against #11,596 for "canhão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "calhar" vs "canhão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calhar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "canhão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,231 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calhar" and "canhão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cânhamo vs canhão". 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 #48,231 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