cidadevsciladaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#124
“cidade” frequency rank
#16,704
“cilada” frequency rank
16828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cidade cilada
Definition aglomeração humana localizada numa área geográfica circunscrita e que tem numerosas casas, próximas entre si, destinadas à moradia e/ou a atividades culturais, mercantis, industriais, financeiras e a outras não relacionadas com a exploração direta do solo; urbe emboscada feita para ataque ou captura, de modo a atrair a pessoa até ela

Where the eye mixes cidade and cilada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cidade
6 ch
cilada

Look-alike desk: cidade vs cilada

A purely visual mix-up. cidade (/si.ˈda.dɨ/) and cilada (/siˈla.dɐ/) 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 16828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cidade is recorded at frequency rank #124, classified as anoun, pronounced /si.ˈda.dɨ/. cilada is at rank #16,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced /siˈla.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 16828, this pair ranks #54,613 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cidade vs cilada

Shared letters: acdi. Private to "cidade": e. Private to "cilada": l.

"cidade" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cilada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cidadeccidade · cdiade · ciadde · cidadde · cidaed · ciddade · ciddae · icdade
  • ciladaccilada · cialda · cilaad · ciladda · cildaa · cillada · cliada · iclada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cidade" and "cilada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/si.ˈda.dɨ/ versus /siˈla.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cidade" or "cilada"?
"cidade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #124 in our Portuguese list, against #16,704 for "cilada". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cidade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cilada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,613 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cidade" and "cilada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cilada vs ciranda". 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 #54,613 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