Which to use
“cerca” is an adverb and “cerda” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #362
- “cerca” frequency rank
- #47,775
- “cerda” frequency rank
- 48137
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerca | cerda |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | perto, nas proximidades, na cercania | que é porca, suja |
Where the eye mixes cerca and cerda
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cerca and cerda
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cerca is /ˈseɾ.kɐ/ while cerda is /ˈseɾ.dɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “cerca” becomes d in “cerda”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48137, 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/. cerda is at rank #47,775, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈseɾ.dɐ/.
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 48137, this pair ranks #17,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cerca vs cerda
Shared letters: acer. Private to "cerca": -. Private to "cerda": d.
"cerca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cerda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cerca" and "cerda" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cerca" vs "cerda" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cerda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerca" and "cerda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerda vs Ceres". 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 #17,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.