Which to use
“cânon” is a noun and “cão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,275
- “cânon” frequency rank
- #3,065
- “cão” frequency rank
- 48340
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cânon | cão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vide cânone | cruel, brutal, dominador |
Where the eye mixes cânon and cão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cânon runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cão's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cânon and cão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cânon is /ˈkɐ.non/ while cão is /ˈkɐ̃ũ̯/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cânon is recorded at frequency rank #45,275, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ.non/. cão is at rank #3,065, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃ũ̯/.
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 48340, this pair ranks #16,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cânon vs cão
Shared letters: co. Private to "cânon": nâ. Private to "cão": ã.
"cânon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cão" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cânon" and "cão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cânon" vs "cão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cânon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cânon" and "cão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canja vs cânon". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #16,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.