carrega vs carregado, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#5,389
“carrega” frequency rank: #7,872
“carregado” frequency rank: 13261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	carrega	carregado
Definition	planta poácea que medra em lugares pantanosos	que está cheio de carga

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carrega and carregado apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

carrega

9 ch

carregado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: carrega is /kɐ'xɛ.gɐ/ while carregado is /kɐ.Rɨ.ˈɡa.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “carrega” sits inside “carregado”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carrega is recorded at frequency rank #5,389, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ'xɛ.gɐ/. carregado is at rank #7,872, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.Rɨ.ˈɡa.du/.

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 13261, this pair ranks #59,151 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of carrega vs carregado

Shared letters: acegr. Private to "carrega": -. Private to "carregado": do.

"carrega" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "carregado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

carrega ← acrrega · carega · carerga · carreag · carregga · carrgea · ccarrega · crarega
carregado ← acrregado · caregado · carergado · carreagdo · carregaddo · carregaod · carregdao · carreggado

Frequency comparison

carrega#5,389

carregado#7,872

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carrega" and "carregado" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "carrega" is a noun and "carregado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "carrega" or "carregado"?

"carrega" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,389 in our Portuguese list, against #7,872 for "carregado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering carrega vs carregado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “carrega”; for an adjective, it's “carregado”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “carrega” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable