cargavscárieConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,309
“carga” frequency rank
#40,971
“cárie” frequency rank
43280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carga cárie
Definition o que pode ser ou é transportado por pessoas, animais ou veículos ulceração nos dentes e ossos, que os destrói progressivamente

Where the eye mixes carga and cárie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. carga (CVCCV) and cárie (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
carga
5 ch
cárie

Why the eye confuses carga with cárie

A purely visual mix-up. carga (/ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/) and cárie (/ˈka.ɾji/) 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 43280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carga is recorded at frequency rank #2,309, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/. cárie is at rank #40,971, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.ɾji/.

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 43280, this pair ranks #22,375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carga vs cárie

Shared letters: cr. Private to "carga": ag. Private to "cárie": eiá.

"carga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cárie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • carga ← acrga · cagra · carag · cargga · carrga · ccarga · craga

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carga" and "cárie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/ versus /ˈka.ɾji/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "carga" vs "cárie" - which ranks higher?
"carga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,309 in our Portuguese list, against #40,971 for "cárie". 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 "carga" and "cárie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "carga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cárie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carga" and "cárie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cárie vs carpet". 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 #22,375 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