cárievscauleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,971
“cárie” frequency rank
#35,921
“caule” frequency rank
76892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cárie caule
Definition ulceração nos dentes e ossos, que os destrói progressivamente a parte aérea do eixo principal das plantas superiores, ligada à raiz, e da qual se desenvolvem os ramos e as folhas

Where the eye mixes cárie and caule

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

5 ch
cárie
5 ch
caule

Look-alike desk: cárie vs caule

A purely visual mix-up. cárie (/ˈka.ɾji/) and caule (/ˈkaw.lɨ/) 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 76892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cárie is recorded at frequency rank #40,971, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.ɾji/. caule is at rank #35,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaw.lɨ/.

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 76892, this pair ranks #2,000 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cárie vs caule

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cárie": irá. Private to "caule": alu.

"cárie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "caule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caule ← acule · calue · cauel · caulle · ccaule · cuale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cárie" and "caule" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.ɾji/ versus /ˈkaw.lɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cárie" vs "caule" - which ranks higher?
"caule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,921 in our Portuguese list, against #40,971 for "cárie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cárie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cárie" and "caule" 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 #2,000 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