Which to use
“cerca” is an adverb and “cercado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #362
- “cerca” frequency rank
- #8,164
- “cercado” frequency rank
- 8526
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerca | cercado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | perto, nas proximidades, na cercania | rodeado ou contornado por uma barreira |
Where the eye mixes cerca and cercado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cerca with cercado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cerca is /ˈseɾ.kɐ/ while cercado is /sɨɾ.ˈka.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “cerca” sits inside “cercado”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cerca is recorded at frequency rank #362, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈseɾ.kɐ/. cercado is at rank #8,164, tagged as anadj, pronounced /sɨɾ.ˈka.du/.
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 8526, this pair ranks #65,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cerca vs cercado
Shared letters: acer. Private to "cerca": -. Private to "cercado": do.
"cerca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cercado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cerca" and "cercado" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cerca" or "cercado"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cercado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerca" and "cercado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cercado vs curvado". 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 #65,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.