karavskatTell them apart

Quick tell: kara is a adjective, kat is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kara” is an adjective and “kat” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,604
“kara” frequency rank
#15,371
“kat” frequency rank
30975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kara kat
Definition querido, amado gato (Felis sylvestris catus):

Where the eye mixes kara and kat

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
kara
3 ch
kat

Why the eye confuses kara with kat

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kara is /ˈka.ɾa/, /ˈkɑ.rɑ/ while kat is /ˈkɐt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kara is recorded at frequency rank #15,604, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈka.ɾa/, /ˈkɑ.rɑ/. kat is at rank #15,371, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐt/.

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 30975, this pair ranks #37,254 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kara vs kat

Shared letters: ak. Private to "kara": r. Private to "kat": t.

"kara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "kat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • karaakra · kaar · karra · kkara · kraa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kara" and "kat" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kara" is an adjective and "kat" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "kara" or "kat" show up more?
"kat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,371 in our Portuguese list, against #15,604 for "kara". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,254 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kara" and "kat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kara vs kari". 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 #37,254 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