caspavscismaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,827
“caspa” frequency rank
#32,106
“cisma” frequency rank
74933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caspa cisma
Definition doença cutânea caracterizada pela escamação excessiva de pele morta no couro cabeludo ato de cismar, de cogitar

Where the eye mixes caspa and cisma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
caspa
5 ch
cisma

Visual trap between caspa and cisma

A purely visual mix-up. caspa (/ˈkas.pɐ/) and cisma (/ˈsiʒ.mɐ/) 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 74933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caspa is recorded at frequency rank #42,827, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkas.pɐ/. cisma is at rank #32,106, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsiʒ.mɐ/.

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 74933, this pair ranks #2,410 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caspa vs cisma

Shared letters: acs. Private to "caspa": p. Private to "cisma": im.

"caspa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cisma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caspaacspa · capsa · casap · casppa · casspa · ccaspa · csapa
  • cismaccisma · cimsa · cisam · cismma · cissma · csima · icsma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caspa" and "cisma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkas.pɐ/ versus /ˈsiʒ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "caspa" or "cisma" show up more?
"cisma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,106 in our Portuguese list, against #42,827 for "caspa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caspa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cisma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,410 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caspa" and "cisma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canja vs caspa". 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 #2,410 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