ceravscéuWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,145
“cera” frequency rank
#1,163
“céu” frequency rank
11308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cera céu
Definition substância que constitui os favos das abelhas parte do espaço que parece formar uma abóbada em cima de nossas cabeças; abóbada celeste

Where the eye mixes cera and céu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
cera
3 ch
céu

Why the eye confuses cera with céu

A purely visual mix-up. cera (/ˈse.ɾɐ/) and céu (/ˈsɛw/) 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 11308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cera is recorded at frequency rank #10,145, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.ɾɐ/. céu is at rank #1,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛw/.

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 11308, this pair ranks #61,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cera vs céu

Shared letters: c. Private to "cera": aer. Private to "céu": .

"cera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "céu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceraccera · cear · cerra · crea · ecra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cera" for "céu" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈse.ɾɐ/ versus /ˈsɛw/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cera" vs "céu" - which ranks higher?
"céu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,163 in our Portuguese list, against #10,145 for "cera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "céu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cera" and "céu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cera 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 #61,576 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