cão vs cisão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cão” is an adjective and “cisão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,065
“cão” frequency rank: #36,806
“cisão” frequency rank: 39871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cão	cisão
Definition	cruel, brutal, dominador	ato de cindir

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cão and cisão apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

cão

5 ch

cisão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cão is /ˈkɐ̃ũ̯/ while cisão is /si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cão is recorded at frequency rank #3,065, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃ũ̯/. cisão is at rank #36,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.

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 39871, this pair ranks #26,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cão vs cisão

Shared letters: coã. Private to "cão": -. Private to "cisão": is.

"cão" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "cisão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequency comparison

cão#3,065

cisão#36,806

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cão" and "cisão" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cão" is an adjective and "cisão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cão" or "cisão"?

"cão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,065 in our Portuguese list, against #36,806 for "cisão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cão vs cisão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cão”; for a noun, it's “cisão”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cão” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable