caracavscaraçasWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,169
“caraca” frequency rank
#33,314
“caraças” frequency rank
71483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caraca caraças
Definition expressa admiração, espanto; insatisfação, repreensão expressa ironia, admiração ou impaciência

Where the eye mixes caraca and caraças

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
caraca
7 ch
caraças

Why the eye confuses caraca with caraças

A purely visual mix-up. caraca (/ka.ˈɾa.kɐ/) and caraças (/kɐ.ˈɾa.sɐʃ/) 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 71483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caraca is recorded at frequency rank #38,169, classified as anintj, pronounced /ka.ˈɾa.kɐ/. caraças is at rank #33,314, tagged as anintj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾa.sɐʃ/.

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 71483, this pair ranks #3,327 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caraca vs caraças

Shared letters: acr. Private to "caraca": -. Private to "caraças": .

"caraca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "caraças" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caracaacraca · caarca · caraac · caracca · carcaa · carraca · ccaraca · craaca

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caraca" for "caraças" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ka.ˈɾa.kɐ/ versus /kɐ.ˈɾa.sɐʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caraca" or "caraças"?
"caraças" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,314 in our Portuguese list, against #38,169 for "caraca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "caraca" and "caraças" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caraca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caraças" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,327 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caraca" and "caraças" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caraca vs carapaça". 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 #3,327 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