carmavscausaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,094
“carma” frequency rank
#340
“causa” frequency rank
32434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carma causa
Definition segundo o hinduísmo e o budismo, a lei de causa e efeito, na qual todas as ações, boas ou más, de uma pessoa geram reações correspondentes nesta vida ou em encarnações futuras aquilo ou aquele que ocasiona um acontecimento ou faz que uma coisa exista

Where the eye mixes carma and causa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
carma
5 ch
causa

Visual trap between carma and causa

A purely visual mix-up. carma (/ˈkɐɾmɐ/) and causa (/ˈkaw.zɐ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carma is recorded at frequency rank #32,094, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐɾmɐ/. causa is at rank #340, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaw.zɐ/.

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 32434, this pair ranks #35,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carma vs causa

Shared letters: ac. Private to "carma": mr. Private to "causa": su.

"carma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "causa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • carmaacrma · camra · caram · carmma · carrma · ccarma · crama
  • causaacusa · casua · cauas · caussa · ccausa · cuasa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "carma" and "causa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɐɾmɐ/ versus /ˈkaw.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "carma" or "causa" show up more?
"causa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #340 in our Portuguese list, against #32,094 for "carma". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "carma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carma" and "causa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carma vs cerda". 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 #35,386 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