caretavscargaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,598
“careta” frequency rank
#2,309
“carga” frequency rank
25907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature careta carga
Definition não drogado ou alcoolizado; sóbrio o que pode ser ou é transportado por pessoas, animais ou veículos

Where the eye mixes careta and carga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
careta
5 ch
carga

Why the eye confuses careta with carga

A purely visual mix-up. careta (/kɐ.ˈɾe.tɐ/) and carga (/ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/) 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 25907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

careta is recorded at frequency rank #23,598, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈɾe.tɐ/. carga is at rank #2,309, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/.

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 25907, this pair ranks #43,329 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of careta vs carga

Shared letters: acr. Private to "careta": et. Private to "carga": g.

"careta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "carga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caretacareat · caretta · cartea · ccareta · craeta
  • cargaacrga · cagra · carag · cargga · carrga · ccarga · craga

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "careta" and "carga" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈɾe.tɐ/ versus /ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "careta" vs "carga" - which ranks higher?
"carga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,309 in our Portuguese list, against #23,598 for "careta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "careta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,329 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "careta" and "carga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "careta 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 #43,329 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