Which to use
“carrão” and “cordão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,869
- “carrão” frequency rank
- #11,038
- “cordão” frequency rank
- 41907
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carrão | cordão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | andorinhão-real, (Tachymarptis melba) | corda fina e flexível |
Where the eye mixes carrão and cordão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. carrão and cordão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: carrão vs cordão
A purely visual mix-up. carrão (singular: /ka.'raŋ/ ou /ka.'raw/) and cordão (/kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/) 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 41907, 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/. cordão is at rank #11,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/.
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 41907, this pair ranks #23,940 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carrão vs cordão
Shared letters: corã. Private to "carrão": a. Private to "cordão": d.
"carrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cordão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carrão" for "cordão" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "carrão" or "cordão" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "carrão" and "cordão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "carrão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cordão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,940 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carrão" and "cordão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrão vs caução". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #23,940 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.