carovscaroçoTell them apart

Quick tell: caro is a adjective, caroço is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caro” is an adjective and “caroço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,178
“caro” frequency rank
#26,999
“caroço” frequency rank
29177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caro caroço
Definition cujo preço é elevado semente de um fruto

Letter map: caro vs caroço

Shared letters muted; letters that set caro and caroço apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. caro runs 4 letters (CVCV) against caroço's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
caro
6 ch
caroço

Grammar separator: caro vs caroço

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: caro is anadjective and caroçoanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “caro” sits inside “caroço”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caro is recorded at frequency rank #2,178, classified as anadj. caroço is at rank #26,999, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.'ɾo.su/.

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 29177, this pair ranks #39,531 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caro vs caroço

Shared letters: acor. Private to "caro": -. Private to "caroço": ç.

"caro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "caroço" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caro ← acro · caor · ccaro · crao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caro" and "caroço" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caro" is an adjective and "caroço" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caro" or "caroço" show up more?
"caro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,178 in our Portuguese list, against #26,999 for "caroço". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "caro" and "caroço".

  • Full dictionary entry for "caro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caroço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,531 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caro" and "caroço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caraca vs caroço". 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 #39,531 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