alçadavsalçapãoTell them apart

Which to use

“alçada” and “alçapão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,518
“alçada” frequency rank
#45,176
“alçapão” frequency rank
67694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alçada alçapão
Definition limite de ação de um magistrado porta ou tampa horizontal, que comunica um pavimento com outro que lhe fica inferior

Where the eye mixes alçada and alçapão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
alçada
7 ch
alçapão

Look-alike desk: alçada vs alçapão

A purely visual mix-up. alçada (/aɫ.ˈsa.dɐ/) and alçapão (/aɫ.sɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/) 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 67694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alçada is recorded at frequency rank #22,518, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɫ.ˈsa.dɐ/. alçapão is at rank #45,176, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɫ.sɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/.

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 67694, this pair ranks #4,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alçada vs alçapão

Shared letters: alç. Private to "alçada": d. Private to "alçapão": opã.

"alçada" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "alçapão" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alçada" and "alçapão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/aɫ.ˈsa.dɐ/ versus /aɫ.sɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alçada" vs "alçapão" - which ranks higher?
"alçada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,518 in our Portuguese list, against #45,176 for "alçapão". 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 "alçada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alçapão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alçada" and "alçapão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alçapão vs alcatrão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #4,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list