cárievscaveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,971
“cárie” frequency rank
#17,725
“cave” frequency rank
58696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cárie cave
Definition ulceração nos dentes e ossos, que os destrói progressivamente pavimento de uma casa abaixo do leito da rua

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cárie and cave apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cárie
4 ch
cave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cárie (/ˈka.ɾji/) and cave (/ˈka.vɨ/) 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 58696, 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/. cave is at rank #17,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.vɨ/.

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 58696, this pair ranks #8,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cárie vs cave

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cárie": irá. Private to "cave": av.

"cárie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "cave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caveacve · caev · cavve · ccave · cvae

Frequency comparison

cárie#40,971
cave#17,725

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cárie" and "cave" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.ɾji/ versus /ˈka.vɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cárie" or "cave"?
"cave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,725 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.

Remembering cárie vs cave

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cárie” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list