cartãovscauçãoTell them apart

Which to use

“cartão” and “caução” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,769
“cartão” frequency rank
#43,325
“caução” frequency rank
45094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cartão caução
Definition papel forte valor depositado como garantia de realização de um compromisso

Letter map: cartão vs caução

Shared letters muted; letters that set cartão and caução apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. cartão (CVCCVV) and caução (CVVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
cartão
6 ch
caução

Spelling & dictionary notes on cartão vs caução

cartão and caução are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45094, 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/. caução is at rank #43,325, tagged as anoun.

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 45094, this pair ranks #20,331 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cartão vs caução

Shared letters: acoã. Private to "cartão": rt. Private to "caução": uç.

"cartão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "caução" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cartão" and "caução" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cartão" or "caução" show up more?
"cartão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,769 in our Portuguese list, against #43,325 for "caução". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cartão" and "caução".

  • Full dictionary entry for "cartão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caução" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,331 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cartão" and "caução" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caução vs caudal". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #20,331 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list