Which to use
“cantão” and “cartão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,259
- “cantão” frequency rank
- #1,769
- “cartão” frequency rank
- 31028
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cantão | cartão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | região administrativa | papel forte |
Letter map: cantão vs cartão
Shared letters muted; letters that set cantão and cartão apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. cantão and cartão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Pair insight - cantão / cartão
cantão and cartão 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 - n in “cantão” becomes r in “cartão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cantão is recorded at frequency rank #29,259, classified as anoun. cartão is at rank #1,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.
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 31028, this pair ranks #37,187 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cantão vs cartão
Shared letters: acotã. Private to "cantão": n. Private to "cartão": r.
"cantão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cantão" and "cartão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cantão" or "cartão" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "cantão" vs "cartão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "cantão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cartão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #37,187 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cantão" and "cartão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cânhamo vs cantão". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #37,187 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.