Which to use
“cuidado” and “cunhado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,142
- “cuidado” frequency rank
- #8,596
- “cunhado” frequency rank
- 9738
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cuidado | cunhado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | meditado | produzido por cunha |
Where the eye mixes cuidado and cunhado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cuidado (CVVCVCV) and cunhado (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cuidado with cunhado
A purely visual mix-up. cuidado (/kuj.ˈda.du/) and cunhado (/ku.ˈɲa.du/) 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 9738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cuidado is recorded at frequency rank #1,142, classified as anadj, pronounced /kuj.ˈda.du/. cunhado is at rank #8,596, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ku.ˈɲa.du/.
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 9738, this pair ranks #63,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cuidado vs cunhado
Shared letters: acdou. Private to "cuidado": i. Private to "cunhado": hn.
"cuidado" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "cunhado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cuidado" and "cunhado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cuidado" or "cunhado"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cuidado" and "cunhado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cuidado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cunhado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cuidado" and "cunhado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cânhamo vs cunhado". 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 #63,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.