Which to use
“cartão” and “Cartoon” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,769
- “cartão” frequency rank
- #10,668
- “Cartoon” frequency rank
- 12437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cartão | Cartoon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | papel forte | cartum |
Where the eye mixes cartão and Cartoon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cartão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against Cartoon's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cartão with Cartoon
A purely visual mix-up. cartão (/kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) and Cartoon ([kaʁˈtuːn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cartão is recorded at frequency rank #1,769, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/. Cartoon is at rank #10,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaʁˈtuːn].
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 12437, this pair ranks #60,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cartão vs Cartoon
Shared letters: acort. Private to "cartão": ã. Private to "Cartoon": n.
"cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "Cartoon" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Cartoon ← acrtoon · caroton · carrtoon · carton · cartono · cartoonn · carttoon · catroon
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cartão" for "Cartoon" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cartão" or "Cartoon" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cartão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Cartoon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cartão" and "Cartoon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cartão vs caução". 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 #60,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.