Which to use
“cancela” and “cautela” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,242
- “cancela” frequency rank
- #11,408
- “cautela” frequency rank
- 33650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cancela | cautela |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | porta ou portão gradeado, de ferro ou madeira | cuidado para evitar um mal |
Where the eye mixes cancela and cautela
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cancela (CVCCVCV) and cautela (CVVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between cancela and cautela
A purely visual mix-up. cancela (/kɐ̃ˈsɛlɐ/) and cautela (/kaw.ˈtɛ.lɐ/) 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 33650, 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/. cautela is at rank #11,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kaw.ˈtɛ.lɐ/.
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 33650, this pair ranks #33,798 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cancela vs cautela
Shared letters: acel. Private to "cancela": n. Private to "cautela": tu.
"cancela" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "cautela" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cancela" and "cautela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cancela" or "cautela" show up more?
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 "cancela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cautela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,798 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cancela" and "cautela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caçula vs cancela". 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 #33,798 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.