Which to use
“cercado” and “cerrado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,164
- “cercado” frequency rank
- #8,441
- “cerrado” frequency rank
- 16605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cercado | cerrado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rodeado ou contornado por uma barreira | fechado |
Where the eye mixes cercado and cerrado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cercado and cerrado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses cercado with cerrado
A purely visual mix-up. cercado (/sɨɾ.ˈka.du/) and cerrado (/sɨ.ˈRa.du/) 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 a single letter - c in “cercado” becomes r in “cerrado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cercado is recorded at frequency rank #8,164, classified as anadj, pronounced /sɨɾ.ˈka.du/. cerrado is at rank #8,441, tagged as anadj, pronounced /sɨ.ˈRa.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 16605, this pair ranks #54,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cercado vs cerrado
Shared letters: acdeor. Private to "cercado": -. Private to "cerrado": -.
"cercado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "cerrado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cercado" for "cerrado" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cercado" or "cerrado"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cercado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cerrado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cercado" and "cerrado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerrado 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 #54,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.