canhãovscansadoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#11,596
“canhão” frequency rank
#2,709
“cansado” frequency rank
14305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canhão cansado
Definition mulher muito feia fatigado

Where the eye mixes canhão and cansado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. canhão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against cansado's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
canhão
7 ch
cansado

Visual trap between canhão and cansado

A purely visual mix-up. canhão (/kɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/) and cansado (/kɐ̃.ˈsa.du/) 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 14305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

canhão is recorded at frequency rank #11,596, classified as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/. cansado is at rank #2,709, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ̃.ˈsa.du/.

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 14305, this pair ranks #57,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of canhão vs cansado

Shared letters: acno. Private to "canhão": hã. Private to "cansado": ds.

"canhão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "cansado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cansado ← acnsado · canasdo · cannsado · cansaddo · cansaod · cansdao · canssado · casnado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "canhão" and "cansado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/ versus /kɐ̃.ˈsa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "canhão" or "cansado"?
"cansado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,709 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.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "canhão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cansado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canhão" and "cansado" 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 #57,834 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