Which to use
“carteira” and “cátedra” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,459
- “carteira” frequency rank
- #29,665
- “cátedra” frequency rank
- 33124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carteira | cátedra |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bolsa, geralmente de couro, com divisões para guardar dinheiro, papéis, etc | cadeira de quem ensina; cadeira professoral |
Where the eye mixes carteira and cátedra
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. carteira runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against cátedra's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: carteira vs cátedra
A purely visual mix-up. carteira (/kɐɾ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/) and cátedra (/ˈka.tɨ.dɾɐ/) 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 33124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carteira is recorded at frequency rank #3,459, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐɾ.ˈtɐj.ɾɐ/. cátedra is at rank #29,665, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.tɨ.dɾɐ/.
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 33124, this pair ranks #34,482 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carteira vs cátedra
Shared letters: acert. Private to "carteira": i. Private to "cátedra": dá.
"carteira" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV · "cátedra" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- carteira ← acrteira · caretira · carrteira · carteiar · carteirra · carteria · cartiera · cartteira
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carteira" for "cátedra" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "carteira" or "cátedra" 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 "carteira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cátedra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,482 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carteira" and "cátedra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrera vs carteira". 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 #34,482 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.