cerejavscorujaTell them apart

Which to use

“cereja” and “coruja” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,528
“cereja” frequency rank
#14,552
“coruja” frequency rank
30080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cereja coruja
Definition que possua cor avermelhada semelhante à cereja que muito cuida, é zeloso e protetor

Where the eye mixes cereja and coruja

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cereja and coruja follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cereja
6 ch
coruja

Look-alike desk: cereja vs coruja

A purely visual mix-up. cereja (/sɨ.ˈɾɐj.ʒɐ/) and coruja (/ku.ˈɾu.ʒɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cereja is recorded at frequency rank #15,528, classified as anadj, pronounced /sɨ.ˈɾɐj.ʒɐ/. coruja is at rank #14,552, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ku.ˈɾu.ʒɐ/.

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 30080, this pair ranks #38,378 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cereja vs coruja

Shared letters: acjr. Private to "cereja": e. Private to "coruja": ou.

"cereja" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "coruja" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cereja ← ccereja · ceerja · cereaj · cerejja · cerjea · cerreja · creeja · ecreja
  • coruja ← ccoruja · corjua · corruja · coruaj · corujja · courja · crouja · ocruja

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cereja" for "coruja" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/sɨ.ˈɾɐj.ʒɐ/ versus /ku.ˈɾu.ʒɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cereja" or "coruja"?
"coruja" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,552 in our Portuguese list, against #15,528 for "cereja". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cereja" and "coruja" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cereja" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coruja" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,378 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cereja" and "coruja" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerda vs cereja". 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 #38,378 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list