Which to use
“cerda” is an adjective and “cordão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,775
- “cerda” frequency rank
- #11,038
- “cordão” frequency rank
- 58813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerda | cordão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que é porca, suja | corda fina e flexível |
Where the eye mixes cerda and cordão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cerda runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against cordão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cerda with cordão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cerda is /ˈseɾ.dɐ/ while cordão is /kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58813, 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/. cordão is at rank #11,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/.
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 58813, this pair ranks #8,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cerda vs cordão
Shared letters: cdr. Private to "cerda": ae. Private to "cordão": oã.
"cerda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cordão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cerda ← ccerda · cedra · cerad · cerdda · cerrda · creda · ecrda
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cerda" and "cordão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cerda" vs "cordão" - which ranks higher?
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 "cordão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerda" and "cordão" 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 #8,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.