cabellovscapulloTell them apart

Which to use

“cabello” and “capullo” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,440
“cabello” frequency rank
#24,767
“capullo” frequency rank
27207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabello capullo
Definition Cada uno de los pelos que crecen en la cabeza. Envoltorio de hilos que fabrican las larvas de algunos insectos para refugiarse durante su metamorfosis al estado adulto. Es propio de los insectos del orden de los lepidópteros (Lepidoptera), al que pertenecen mariposas y polillas. Los hilos del capullo del gusano de seda son la fuente de la seda natural.

Where the eye mixes cabello and capullo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cabello
7 ch
capullo

Visual trap between cabello and capullo

A purely visual mix-up. cabello ([kaˈβ̞eʝo]) and capullo ([kaˈpuʝo]) 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 27207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabello is recorded at frequency rank #2,440, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈβ̞eʝo]. capullo is at rank #24,767, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈpuʝo].

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 27207, this pair ranks #227,959 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabello vs capullo

Shared letters: aclo. Private to "cabello": be. Private to "capullo": pu.

"cabello" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "capullo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabelloacbello · cabbello · cabelo · cabelol · cablelo · caebllo · cavello · cbaello
  • capulloacpullo · caplulo · cappullo · capulo · capulol · caupllo · ccapullo · cpaullo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabello" and "capullo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈβ̞eʝo] versus [kaˈpuʝo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cabello" or "capullo"?
"cabello" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,440 in our Spanish list, against #24,767 for "capullo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabello" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "capullo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,959 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabello" and "capullo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Capella vs capullo". 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 #227,959 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list