caridadevscavidadeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,294
“caridade” frequency rank
#19,366
“cavidade” frequency rank
23660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caridade cavidade
Definition bondade, compaixão espaço cavado de um corpo sólido

Where the eye mixes caridade and cavidade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. caridade and cavidade follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
caridade
8 ch
cavidade

Look-alike desk: caridade vs cavidade

A purely visual mix-up. caridade (/kɐ.ɾi.ˈda.dɨ/) and cavidade (/kɐ.vi.ˈda.dɨ/) 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 a single letter - r in “caridade” becomes v in “cavidade”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caridade is recorded at frequency rank #4,294, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ɾi.ˈda.dɨ/. cavidade is at rank #19,366, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.vi.ˈda.dɨ/.

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 23660, this pair ranks #46,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caridade vs cavidade

Shared letters: acdei. Private to "caridade": r. Private to "cavidade": v.

"caridade" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "cavidade" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caridade ← acridade · cairdade · cardiade · cariadde · caridadde · caridaed · cariddade · cariddae
  • cavidade ← acvidade · caivdade · cavdiade · caviadde · cavidadde · cavidaed · caviddade · caviddae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caridade" for "cavidade" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ɾi.ˈda.dɨ/ versus /kɐ.vi.ˈda.dɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caridade" vs "cavidade" - which ranks higher?
"caridade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,294 in our Portuguese list, against #19,366 for "cavidade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caridade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cavidade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caridade" and "cavidade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cavidade vs claridade". 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 #46,119 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