capovscayosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,730
“capo” frequency rank
#42,871
“cayos” frequency rank
54601
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capo cayos
Definition Jefe de una banda mafiosa. Forma del plural de cayo.

Where the eye mixes capo and cayos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
capo
5 ch
cayos

Visual trap between capo and cayos

A purely visual mix-up. capo ([ˈkapo]) and cayos ([ˈkaʝos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capo is recorded at frequency rank #11,730, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkapo]. cayos is at rank #42,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaʝos].

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 54601, this pair ranks #82,594 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of capo vs cayos

Shared letters: aco. Private to "capo": p. Private to "cayos": sy.

"capo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cayos" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capoacpo · caop · cappo · ccapo · cpao
  • cayosacyos · caoys · cayoss · cayso · cayyos · ccayos · cyaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "capo" for "cayos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkapo] versus [ˈkaʝos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "capo" vs "cayos" - which ranks higher?
"capo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,730 in our Spanish list, against #42,871 for "cayos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "capo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cayos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,594 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capo" and "cayos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cayos vs chamos". 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 #82,594 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