cestavscismaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,017
“cesta” frequency rank
#32,106
“cisma” frequency rank
41123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cesta cisma
Definition objeto comumente feito de fibras ou vergas entrelaçadas, para o transporte e armazenamento de produtos como alimentos, roupas, etc ato de cismar, de cogitar

Where the eye mixes cesta and cisma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cesta
5 ch
cisma

Visual trap between cesta and cisma

A purely visual mix-up. cesta (/ˈseʃ.tɐ/, /ˈses.tɐ/ (menos frequente)) and cisma (/ˈsiʒ.mɐ/) 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 41123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cesta is recorded at frequency rank #9,017, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈseʃ.tɐ/, /ˈses.tɐ/ (menos frequente). cisma is at rank #32,106, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsiʒ.mɐ/.

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 41123, this pair ranks #24,867 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cesta vs cisma

Shared letters: acs. Private to "cesta": et. Private to "cisma": im.

"cesta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cisma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cestaccesta · cesat · cessta · cestta · cetsa · cseta · ecsta
  • cismaccisma · cimsa · cisam · cismma · cissma · csima · icsma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cesta" for "cisma" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈseʃ.tɐ/, /ˈses.tɐ/ (menos frequente) versus /ˈsiʒ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cesta" or "cisma" show up more?
"cesta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,017 in our Portuguese list, against #32,106 for "cisma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cesta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cisma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,867 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cesta" and "cisma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caspa vs cisma". 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 #24,867 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