carambavscarimboWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: caramba is a intj, carimbo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caramba” is an intj and “carimbo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,378
“caramba” frequency rank
#28,892
“carimbo” frequency rank
33270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caramba carimbo
Definition indica surpresa ou admiração peça com escritos e/ou desenhos com que se marcam, à tinta, outros objetos como documentos, cartas, etc

Where the eye mixes caramba and carimbo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. caramba and carimbo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
caramba
7 ch
carimbo

Look-alike desk: caramba vs carimbo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caramba is /kɐ.ˈɾɐ̃.bɐ/ while carimbo is /kɐ.ˈɾĩ.bu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caramba is recorded at frequency rank #4,378, classified as anintj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾɐ̃.bɐ/. carimbo is at rank #28,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾĩ.bu/.

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 33270, this pair ranks #34,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caramba vs carimbo

Shared letters: abcmr. Private to "caramba": -. Private to "carimbo": io.

"caramba" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "carimbo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caramba ← acramba · caarmba · carabma · caramab · carambba · carammba · carmaba · carramba
  • carimbo ← acrimbo · cairmbo · caribmo · carimbbo · carimmbo · carimob · carmibo · carrimbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caramba" and "carimbo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caramba" is an intj and "carimbo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "caramba" or "carimbo"?
"caramba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,378 in our Portuguese list, against #28,892 for "carimbo". 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 "caramba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carimbo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caramba" and "carimbo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cachimbo vs carimbo". 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 #34,284 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