Which to use
“cárcere” and “carrera” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,673
- “cárcere” frequency rank
- #49,341
- “carrera” frequency rank
- 69014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cárcere | carrera |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cadeia, prisão | rua |
Where the eye mixes cárcere and carrera
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cárcere and carrera follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses cárcere with carrera
A purely visual mix-up. cárcere (/ˈkaɾ.sɨ.ɾɨ/) and carrera (/kaˈreɾa/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cárcere is recorded at frequency rank #19,673, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaɾ.sɨ.ɾɨ/. carrera is at rank #49,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kaˈreɾa/.
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 69014, this pair ranks #4,073 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cárcere vs carrera
Shared letters: cer. Private to "cárcere": á. Private to "carrera": a.
"cárcere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "carrera" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- carrera ← acrrera · carera · carerra · carrear · carrerra · carrrea · ccarrera · crarera
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cárcere" and "carrera" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cárcere" or "carrera"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cárcere" and "carrera" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cárcere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carrera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,073 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cárcere" and "carrera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carreiro vs carrera". 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 #4,073 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.