caosvscrossWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,128
“caos” frequency rank
#7,749
“cross” frequency rank
11877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caos cross
Definition espaço limitado e amorfo que precedeu à criação do cosmo cruz

Where the eye mixes caos and cross

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
caos
5 ch
cross

Visual trap between caos and cross

A purely visual mix-up. caos (/ˈkaws/) and cross (/kɹɒs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caos is recorded at frequency rank #4,128, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaws/. cross is at rank #7,749, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɒs/.

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 11877, this pair ranks #60,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caos vs cross

Shared letters: cos. Private to "caos": a. Private to "cross": r.

"caos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "cross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caosacos · caoss · ccaos · coas
  • crossccross · corss · cros · crross · crsos · rcoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caos" and "cross" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkaws/ versus /kɹɒs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caos" or "cross" show up more?
"caos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,128 in our Portuguese list, against #7,749 for "cross". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cross" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caos" and "cross" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chess vs cross". 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 #60,872 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