carvalhovscascalhoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,616
“carvalho” frequency rank
#25,586
“cascalho” frequency rank
28202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carvalho cascalho
Definition árvore da família das fagáceas do gênero Quercus pequenas lascas de pedra

Letter map: carvalho vs cascalho

Shared letters muted; letters that set carvalho and cascalho apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
carvalho
8 ch
cascalho

Pair insight - carvalho / cascalho

carvalho and cascalho 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 28202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carvalho is recorded at frequency rank #2,616, classified as anoun. cascalho is at rank #25,586, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐʃ.ˈka.ʎu/.

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 28202, this pair ranks #40,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carvalho vs cascalho

Shared letters: achlo. Private to "carvalho": rv. Private to "cascalho": s.

"carvalho" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "cascalho" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • carvalhoacrvalho · caravlho · carrvalho · carvahlo · carvalhho · carvallho · carvaloh · carvlaho
  • cascalhoacscalho · cacsalho · casaclho · cascahlo · cascalhho · cascallho · cascaloh · casccalho

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "carvalho" for "cascalho" ever safe?
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.
Which is more common, "carvalho" or "cascalho"?
"carvalho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,616 in our Portuguese list, against #25,586 for "cascalho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "carvalho" vs "cascalho" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "carvalho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cascalho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carvalho" and "cascalho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabeçalho vs cascalho". 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 #40,637 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