ceiavscésioTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,796
“ceia” frequency rank
#41,427
“césio” frequency rank
56223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ceia césio
Definition a última refeição do dia elemento químico de símbolo Cs, possui o número atômico 55 e massa atômica relativa 132,905 u; é um metal alcalino, de coloração ouro prateado; é encontrado em minerais de potássio, tais como micas, berílio, feldspatos e a polucita (alumínio-silicato de césio); o césio metálico é utilizado na fabricação de células fotoelétricas e detectores de infravermelho

Where the eye mixes ceia and césio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ceia runs 4 letters (CVVV) against césio's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
ceia
5 ch
césio

Visual trap between ceia and césio

A purely visual mix-up. ceia (/ˈsɐj.ɐ/) and césio (/ˈsɛzju/) 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 56223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ceia is recorded at frequency rank #14,796, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɐj.ɐ/. césio is at rank #41,427, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛzju/.

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 56223, this pair ranks #10,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ceia vs césio

Shared letters: ci. Private to "ceia": ae. Private to "césio": osé.

"ceia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "césio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceia ← cceia · ceai · ciea · ecia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ceia" for "césio" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɐj.ɐ/ versus /ˈsɛzju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ceia" or "césio" show up more?
"ceia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,796 in our Portuguese list, against #41,427 for "césio". 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 "ceia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "césio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ceia" and "césio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "césio vs cisto". 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 #10,101 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