cansarvscantarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,270
“cansar” frequency rank
#2,221
“cantar” frequency rank
20491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cansar cantar
Definition causar cansaço; fatigar emitir sons vocálicos formando uma sequência melodiosa

Letter map: cansar vs cantar

Shared letters muted; letters that set cansar and cantar apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. cansar and cantar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cansar
6 ch
cantar

Pair insight - cansar / cantar

cansar and cantar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - s in “cansar” becomes t in “cantar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cansar is recorded at frequency rank #18,270, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐ̃.ˈsaɾ. cantar is at rank #2,221, tagged as averb.

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 20491, this pair ranks #50,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cansar vs cantar

Shared letters: acnr. Private to "cansar": s. Private to "cantar": t.

"cansar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cantar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cansar ← acnsar · canasr · cannsar · cansarr · cansra · canssar · casnar · ccansar
  • cantar ← acntar · canatr · canntar · cantarr · cantra · canttar · catnar · ccantar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cansar" for "cantar" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - s in “cansar” becomes t in “cantar”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "cansar" vs "cantar" - which ranks higher?
"cantar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,221 in our Portuguese list, against #18,270 for "cansar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cansar" and "cantar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "cansar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cantar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cansar" and "cantar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canja vs cansar". 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 #50,022 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