alçapãovsalcatrãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,176
“alçapão” frequency rank
#40,408
“alcatrão” frequency rank
85584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alçapão alcatrão
Definition porta ou tampa horizontal, que comunica um pavimento com outro que lhe fica inferior substância betuminosa, espessa, escura e de forte odor, que se obtém da destilação de certas matérias orgânicas, principalmente de carvão, ossos e de algumas madeiras resinosas

Letter map: alçapão vs alcatrão

Shared letters muted; letters that set alçapão and alcatrão apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. alçapão runs 7 letters (VCCVCVV) against alcatrão's 8 (VCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
alçapão
8 ch
alcatrão

Corpus notes: alçapão and alcatrão

alçapão and alcatrão are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alçapão is recorded at frequency rank #45,176, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɫ.sɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/. alcatrão is at rank #40,408, tagged as anoun.

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 85584, this pair ranks #676 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alçapão vs alcatrão

Shared letters: aloã. Private to "alçapão": pç. Private to "alcatrão": crt.

"alçapão" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "alcatrão" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alçapão" for "alcatrão" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "alçapão" vs "alcatrão" - which ranks higher?
"alcatrão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,408 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.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "alçapão" and "alcatrão".

  • Full dictionary entry for "alçapão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alcatrão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #676 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alçapão" and "alcatrão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "açafrão vs alcatrão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #676 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