celavscimaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,875
“cela” frequency rank
#580
“cima” frequency rank
8455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cela cima
Definition aposento de prisioneiros a parte superior de alguma coisa; alto, cume, cimeira, topo

Where the eye mixes cela and cima

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cela
4 ch
cima

Visual trap between cela and cima

A purely visual mix-up. cela (/ˈsɛ.la/) and cima (/ˈsi.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 8455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cela is recorded at frequency rank #7,875, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.la/. cima is at rank #580, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsi.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 8455, this pair ranks #65,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cela vs cima

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cela": el. Private to "cima": im.

"cela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cima" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • celaccela · ceal · cella · clea · ecla
  • cimaccima · ciam · cimma · cmia · icma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cela" and "cima" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɛ.la/ versus /ˈsi.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cela" or "cima"?
"cima" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #580 in our Portuguese list, against #7,875 for "cela". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cima" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cela" and "cima" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cela vs cerda". 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 #65,314 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