cassarvscursarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,183
“cassar” frequency rank
#19,107
“cursar” frequency rank
53290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cassar cursar
Definition impedir que produza efeitos, anular, revogar (direitos políticos, mandatos, licenças, etc.): seguir o curso de

Where the eye mixes cassar and cursar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cassar and cursar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cassar
6 ch
cursar

Visual trap between cassar and cursar

A purely visual mix-up. cassar (/ka.ˈsaɾ/) and cursar (/kuɾ.ˈsaɾ/) 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 53290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cassar is recorded at frequency rank #34,183, classified as averb, pronounced /ka.ˈsaɾ/. cursar is at rank #19,107, tagged as averb, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈsaɾ/.

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 53290, this pair ranks #12,145 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cassar vs cursar

Shared letters: acrs. Private to "cassar": -. Private to "cursar": u.

"cassar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cursar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cassar ← acssar · casar · casasr · cassarr · cassra · ccassar · csasar
  • cursar ← ccursar · crusar · curasr · currsar · cursarr · cursra · curssar · cusrar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cassar" for "cursar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ka.ˈsaɾ/ versus /kuɾ.ˈsaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cassar" or "cursar"?
"cursar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,107 in our Portuguese list, against #34,183 for "cassar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cassar" and "cursar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cassar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cursar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,145 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cassar" and "cursar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cassada vs cassar". 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 #12,145 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