castvscataTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,723
“cast” frequency rank
#31,681
“cata” frequency rank
49404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cast cata
Definition arremesso busca

Where the eye mixes cast and cata

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

4 ch
cast
4 ch
cata

Visual trap between cast and cata

A purely visual mix-up. cast (/kæst/) and cata (/ˈka.tɐ/) 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 49404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cast is recorded at frequency rank #17,723, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæst/. cata is at rank #31,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.tɐ/.

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 49404, this pair ranks #15,601 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cast vs cata

Shared letters: act. Private to "cast": s. Private to "cata": -.

"cast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • castacst · casst · castt · ccast · csat
  • cataacta · caat · catta · ccata · ctaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cast" and "cata" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kæst/ versus /ˈka.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cast" vs "cata" - which ranks higher?
"cast" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,723 in our Portuguese list, against #31,681 for "cata". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cast" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,601 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cast" and "cata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cata vs copta". 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 #15,601 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