curtovscutWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,136
“curto” frequency rank
#11,244
“cut” frequency rank
13380
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature curto cut
Definition que tem pouco comprimento cortado

Where the eye mixes curto and cut

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

5 ch
curto
3 ch
cut

Look-alike desk: curto vs cut

A purely visual mix-up. curto (/ˈkuɾ.tu/) and cut (/ˈkʌt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

curto is recorded at frequency rank #2,136, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkuɾ.tu/. cut is at rank #11,244, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkʌt/.

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 13380, this pair ranks #58,982 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of curto vs cut

Shared letters: ctu. Private to "curto": or. Private to "cut": -.

"curto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • curtoccurto · cruto · curot · currto · curtto · cutro · ucrto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "curto" for "cut" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkuɾ.tu/ versus /ˈkʌt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "curto" vs "cut" - which ranks higher?
"curto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,136 in our Portuguese list, against #11,244 for "cut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "curto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,982 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "curto" and "cut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coat vs cut". 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 #58,982 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