Which to use
“cartão” and “Cartum” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,769
- “cartão” frequency rank
- #30,459
- “Cartum” frequency rank
- 32228
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cartão | Cartum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | papel forte | capital e segunda maior cidade do Sudão |
Where the eye mixes cartão and Cartum
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cartão (CVCCVV) and Cartum (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between cartão and Cartum
A purely visual mix-up. cartão (/kɐɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) and Cartum (/kɐɹˈtũ/) 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 32228, 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/. Cartum is at rank #30,459, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐɹˈtũ/.
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 32228, this pair ranks #35,638 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cartão vs Cartum
Shared letters: acrt. Private to "cartão": oã. Private to "Cartum": mu.
"cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "Cartum" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Cartum ← acrtum · carrtum · cartmu · carttum · cartumm · carutm · catrum · ccartum
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cartão" for "Cartum" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cartão" or "Cartum" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cartão" and "Cartum" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cartão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Cartum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,638 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cartão" and "Cartum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cactus vs Cartum". 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 #35,638 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.