Which to use
“cerda” is an adjective and “corda” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,775
- “cerda” frequency rank
- #5,178
- “corda” frequency rank
- 52953
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerda | corda |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que é porca, suja | cabo de fios vegetais unidos e torcidos uns sobre os outros |
Where the eye mixes cerda and corda
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cerda and corda follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cerda vs corda
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cerda is /ˈseɾ.dɐ/ while corda is /ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “cerda” becomes o in “corda”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52953, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cerda is recorded at frequency rank #47,775, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈseɾ.dɐ/. corda is at rank #5,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔɾ.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 52953, this pair ranks #12,372 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cerda vs corda
Shared letters: acdr. Private to "cerda": e. Private to "corda": o.
"cerda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "corda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cerda" for "corda" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cerda" or "corda"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,372 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerda" and "corda" 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 #12,372 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.