cancelavscâncerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,242
“cancela” frequency rank
#1,607
“câncer” frequency rank
23849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cancela câncer
Definition porta ou portão gradeado, de ferro ou madeira doença caracterizada por rápida multiplicação celular irrefreada de uma célula que teve seu ADN danosamente modificado

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cancela and câncer apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
cancela
6 ch
câncer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cancela (/kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/) and câncer (/ˈkɐ̃.sɛɾ/) 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 23849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cancela is recorded at frequency rank #22,242, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/. câncer is at rank #1,607, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃.sɛɾ/.

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 23849, this pair ranks #45,891 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cancela vs câncer

Shared letters: cen. Private to "cancela": al. Private to "câncer": .

"cancela" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "câncer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cancelaacncela · cacnela · canccela · canceal · cancella · canclea · canecla · canncela

Frequency comparison

cancela#22,242
câncer#1,607

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cancela" and "câncer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/ versus /ˈkɐ̃.sɛɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cancela" or "câncer"?
"câncer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,607 in our Portuguese list, against #22,242 for "cancela". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cancela vs câncer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cancela” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list