caravscarrãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cara is a preposition, carrão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cara” is a preposition and “carrão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#195
“cara” frequency rank
#30,869
“carrão” frequency rank
31064
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cara carrão
Definition em direção a, para, contra andorinhão-real, (Tachymarptis melba)

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
cara
6 ch
carrão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cara is apreposition and carrãoanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31064, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cara is recorded at frequency rank #195, classified as aprep. carrão is at rank #30,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced singular: /ka.'raŋ/ ou /ka.'raw/.

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 31064, this pair ranks #37,149 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cara vs carrão

Shared letters: acr. Private to "cara": -. Private to "carrão": .

"cara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "carrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caraacra · caar · carra · ccara · craa

Frequency comparison

cara#195
carrão#30,869

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cara" and "carrão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cara" is a preposition and "carrão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cara" or "carrão"?
"cara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #195 in our Portuguese list, against #30,869 for "carrão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cara vs carrão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list