cabeçavscabeçadaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#361
“cabeça” frequency rank
#34,172
“cabeçada” frequency rank
34533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabeça cabeçada
Definition parte do corpo humano, onde se localizam o cérebro, protegido pelo crânio, e a face, ligada ao tronco pelo pescoço pancada com a cabeça

Where the eye mixes cabeça and cabeçada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cabeça runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against cabeçada's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cabeça
8 ch
cabeçada

Visual trap between cabeça and cabeçada

A purely visual mix-up. cabeça (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/) and cabeçada (/kɐ.bɨ.ˈsa.dɐ/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cabeça” sits inside “cabeçada”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabeça is recorded at frequency rank #361, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/. cabeçada is at rank #34,172, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.bɨ.ˈsa.dɐ/.

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 34533, this pair ranks #32,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabeça vs cabeçada

Shared letters: abceç. Private to "cabeça": -. Private to "cabeçada": d.

"cabeça" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cabeçada" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cabeça" and "cabeçada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/ versus /kɐ.bɨ.ˈsa.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cabeça" or "cabeçada" show up more?
"cabeça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #361 in our Portuguese list, against #34,172 for "cabeçada". 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 "cabeça" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cabeçada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabeça" and "cabeçada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabeçada vs cabeção". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #32,705 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