Which to use
“caneca” is a noun and “careca” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,091
- “caneca” frequency rank
- #10,848
- “careca” frequency rank
- 24939
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caneca | careca |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | copo com asa, porém, ao contrário da xícara, geralmente maior e não necessita de pires | falta de cabelo na cabeça; calvo |
Where the eye mixes caneca and careca
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. caneca and careca follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between caneca and careca
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caneca is /ˈkɐ.nɛ.kɐ/ while careca is /kɐ.ˈɾɛ.kɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “caneca” becomes r in “careca”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caneca is recorded at frequency rank #14,091, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ.nɛ.kɐ/. careca is at rank #10,848, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾɛ.kɐ/.
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 24939, this pair ranks #44,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of caneca vs careca
Shared letters: ace. Private to "caneca": n. Private to "careca": r.
"caneca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "careca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caneca" for "careca" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caneca" or "careca" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caneca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "careca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caneca" and "careca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "careca vs carrera". 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 #44,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.