kavskakaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,901
“ka” frequency rank
#44,937
“kaka” frequency rank
56838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ka kaka
Definition nome dos kana か e カ bolo:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ka and kaka apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch
ka
4 ch
kaka

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ka (/ˈka/) and kaka (/ˈkʰa.ka/) 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 extra letter(s) - “ka” sits inside “kaka”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ka is recorded at frequency rank #11,901, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka/. kaka is at rank #44,937, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʰa.ka/.

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 56838, this pair ranks #9,706 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ka vs kaka

Shared letters: ak. Private to "ka": -. Private to "kaka": -.

"ka" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "kaka" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kakaakka · kaak · kakka · kkaa · kkaka

Frequency comparison

ka#11,901
kaka#44,937

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ka" and "kaka" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka/ versus /ˈkʰa.ka/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ka" or "kaka"?
"ka" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,901 in our Portuguese list, against #44,937 for "kaka". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ka vs kaka

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ka” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list