calovscimoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,256
“calo” frequency rank
#25,235
“cimo” frequency rank
54491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calo cimo
Definition porção dura da pele que se tornou grossa e rígida por atrito repetido a parte mais alta

Where the eye mixes calo and cimo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. calo and cimo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
calo
4 ch
cimo

Look-alike desk: calo vs cimo

A purely visual mix-up. calo (/ˈka.lu/) and cimo (/ˈsi.mu/) 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 54491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calo is recorded at frequency rank #29,256, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.lu/. cimo is at rank #25,235, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsi.mu/.

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 54491, this pair ranks #11,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of calo vs cimo

Shared letters: co. Private to "calo": al. Private to "cimo": im.

"calo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cimo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calo ← aclo · callo · caol · ccalo · clao
  • cimo ← ccimo · cimmo · ciom · cmio · icmo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "calo" and "cimo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.lu/ versus /ˈsi.mu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "calo" or "cimo"?
"cimo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,235 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.

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 "calo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cimo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calo" and "cimo" 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 #11,218 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