Which to use
“capo” and “chape” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,689
- “capo” frequency rank
- #35,422
- “chape” frequency rank
- 74111
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | capo | chape |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chef mafieux. | Sorte de manteau long, sans plis et agrafé par devant, allant jusqu’aux talons, que portent l’évêque, le célébrant, les chantres, etc. durant l’office ; se dit aussi du grand manteau de drap ou de serge des chanoines. On nomme aussi ce vêtement un pluvial. |
Where the eye mixes capo and chape
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. capo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against chape's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses capo with chape
A purely visual mix-up. capo (\ka.po\) and chape (\ʃap\) 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 74111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
capo is recorded at frequency rank #38,689, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.po\. chape is at rank #35,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃap\.
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 74111, this pair ranks #38,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of capo vs chape
Shared letters: acp. Private to "capo": o. Private to "chape": eh.
"capo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "chape" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "capo" and "chape" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "capo" or "chape"?
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 "capo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "capo" and "chape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capo vs ciro". 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 #38,210 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.