Which to use
“captain” and “caption” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,359
- “captain” frequency rank
- #10,822
- “caption” frequency rank
- 12181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | captain | caption |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A chief or leader. | The descriptive heading or title, of a document or part thereof. |
Where the eye mixes captain and caption
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses captain with caption
A purely visual mix-up. captain (/ˈkæp.tɪn/) and caption (/ˈkæp.ʃən/) 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 12181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
captain is recorded at frequency rank #1,359, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæp.tɪn/. caption is at rank #10,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæp.ʃən/.
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 12181, this pair ranks #483,001 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of captain vs caption
Shared letters: acinpt. Private to "captain": -. Private to "caption": o.
"captain" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "caption" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "captain" and "caption" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "captain" vs "caption" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "captain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caption" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #483,001 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "captain" and "caption" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caption vs captor". 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 #483,001 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.