saca vs sacana, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,678
“saca” frequency rank: #33,173
“sacana” frequency rank: 48851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	saca	sacana
Definition	ato de sacar	diz-se daquele que comete atos reprováveis

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set saca and sacana apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

saca

6 ch

sacana

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: saca is /ˈsa.kɐ/ while sacana is /sɐ.ˈkɐ.nɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “saca” sits inside “sacana”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saca is recorded at frequency rank #15,678, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsa.kɐ/. sacana is at rank #33,173, tagged as anadj, pronounced /sɐ.ˈkɐ.nɐ/.

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 48851, this pair ranks #16,282 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of saca vs sacana

Shared letters: acs. Private to "saca": -. Private to "sacana": n.

"saca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sacana" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

saca ← asca · saac · sacca · scaa · ssaca
sacana ← ascana · saacna · sacaan · sacanna · saccana · sacnaa · scaana · ssacana

Frequency comparison

saca#15,678

sacana#33,173

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saca" and "sacana" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saca" is a noun and "sacana" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "saca" or "sacana"?

"saca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,678 in our Portuguese list, against #33,173 for "sacana". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering saca vs sacana

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “saca”; for an adjective, it's “sacana”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “saca” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable