cantãovscauçãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,259
“cantão” frequency rank
#43,325
“caução” frequency rank
72584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cantão caução
Definition região administrativa valor depositado como garantia de realização de um compromisso

Letter map: cantão vs caução

Shared letters muted; letters that set cantão and caução apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. cantão (CVCCVV) and caução (CVVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
cantão
6 ch
caução

Spelling & dictionary notes on cantão vs caução

cantão and caução 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cantão is recorded at frequency rank #29,259, classified as anoun. caução is at rank #43,325, tagged as anoun.

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 72584, this pair ranks #3,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cantão vs caução

Shared letters: acoã. Private to "cantão": nt. Private to "caução": uç.

"cantão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "caução" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cantão" for "caução" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "cantão" vs "caução" - which ranks higher?
"cantão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,259 in our Portuguese list, against #43,325 for "caução". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "cantão" vs "caução" 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 "caução" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cantão" and "caução" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caução vs caudal". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,015 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