caretavscarreraConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,598
“careta” frequency rank
#49,341
“carrera” frequency rank
72939
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature careta carrera
Definition não drogado ou alcoolizado; sóbrio rua

Where the eye mixes careta and carrera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. careta runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against carrera's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
careta
7 ch
carrera

Look-alike desk: careta vs carrera

A purely visual mix-up. careta (/kɐ.ˈɾe.tɐ/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72939, 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/. 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 72939, this pair ranks #2,905 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of careta vs carrera

Shared letters: acer. Private to "careta": t. Private to "carrera": -.

"careta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "carrera" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • careta ← careat · caretta · cartea · ccareta · craeta
  • carrera ← acrrera · carera · carerra · carrear · carrerra · carrrea · ccarrera · crarera

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "careta" for "carrera" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈɾe.tɐ/ versus /kaˈreɾa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "careta" or "carrera"?
"careta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,598 in our Portuguese list, against #49,341 for "carrera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "careta" and "carrera" 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 "carrera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,905 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "careta" 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 #2,905 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