Which to use
“castelão” and “catalão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,599
- “castelão” frequency rank
- #11,024
- “catalão” frequency rank
- 34623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | castelão | catalão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | de Castela, região da Espanha | relacionado à Catalunha, região da Espanha |
Where the eye mixes castelão and catalão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. castelão runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against catalão's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: castelão vs catalão
A purely visual mix-up. castelão (/kas.te.'laŋ/ ou /kas.te.'la.ʊ/) and catalão (/ka.ta.ˈlãw/) 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 34623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
castelão is recorded at frequency rank #23,599, classified as anadj, pronounced /kas.te.'laŋ/ ou /kas.te.'la.ʊ/. catalão is at rank #11,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ka.ta.ˈlãw/.
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 34623, this pair ranks #32,588 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of castelão vs catalão
Shared letters: aclotã. Private to "castelão": es. Private to "catalão": -.
"castelão" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "catalão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "castelão" for "catalão" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "castelão" or "catalão" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "castelão" and "catalão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "castelão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "catalão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,588 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "castelão" and "catalão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catalão vs catarro". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #32,588 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.