capitan
/kæpɪˈtæn/
"capitan" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“capitan” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #44,669 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #44,669
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Captain (in Spanish-speaking contexts).
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | capitan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kæpɪˈtæn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #44,669 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “capitan” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for capitan is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kæpɪˈtæn/. Corpus data places it at rank #44,669 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Captain (in Spanish-speaking contexts).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for capitan, with forms such as "acpitan", "caiptan", and "capiatn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "Caplan", "captain", "capitol", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Spanish capitán. Doublet of captain and chieftain. The correct English form is capitan, spelled C-A-P-I-T-A-N.
Definition
- 1Captain (in Spanish-speaking contexts).
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish capitán. Doublet of captain and chieftain.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acpitan,caiptan,capiatn,capitann,capitna,capittan,cappitan,ccapitan,cpaitan
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of capitan - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “capitan”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-P-I-T-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kæpɪˈtæn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Caplan” - see the side-by-side comparison. capitan vs Caplan
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.