Which to use
“carrão” and “cartão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,869
- “carrão” frequency rank
- #1,769
- “cartão” frequency rank
- 32638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carrão | cartão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | andorinhão-real, (Tachymarptis melba) | papel forte |
Where the eye mixes carrão and cartão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. carrão and cartão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between carrão and cartão
A purely visual mix-up. carrão (singular: /ka.'raŋ/ ou /ka.'raw/) and cartão (/kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) 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 “carrão” becomes t in “cartão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carrão is recorded at frequency rank #30,869, classified as anoun, pronounced singular: /ka.'raŋ/ ou /ka.'raw/. cartão is at rank #1,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.
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 32638, this pair ranks #35,108 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carrão vs cartão
Shared letters: acorã. Private to "carrão": -. Private to "cartão": t.
"carrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carrão" for "cartão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "carrão" or "cartão"?
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 "carrão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cartão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,108 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carrão" and "cartão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrão vs caução". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #35,108 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.