cantovscustoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,082
“canto” frequency rank
#1,773
“custo” frequency rank
3855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canto custo
Definition o ato de cantar o quanto algo custa, o preço de algo

Letter map: canto vs custo

Shared letters muted; letters that set canto and custo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
canto
5 ch
custo

Pair insight - canto / custo

canto and custo 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 3855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

canto is recorded at frequency rank #2,082, classified as anoun. custo is at rank #1,773, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkuʃ.tu/.

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 3855, this pair ranks #71,230 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of canto vs custo

Shared letters: cot. Private to "canto": an. Private to "custo": su.

"canto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "custo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cantoacnto · cannto · canot · cantto · catno · ccanto · cnato
  • custoccusto · csuto · cusot · cussto · custto · cutso · ucsto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "canto" for "custo" 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: "canto" vs "custo" - which ranks higher?
"custo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,773 in our Portuguese list, against #2,082 for "canto". 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 "canto" and "custo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "canto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "custo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,230 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canto" and "custo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cânon vs canto". 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 #71,230 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