cabeçavscabeçãoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#361
“cabeça” frequency rank
#34,173
“cabeção” frequency rank
34534
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabeça cabeção
Definition parte do corpo humano, onde se localizam o cérebro, protegido pelo crânio, e a face, ligada ao tronco pelo pescoço testarudo, teimoso

Where the eye mixes cabeça and cabeção

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cabeça runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against cabeção's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cabeça
7 ch
cabeção

Visual trap between cabeça and cabeção

A purely visual mix-up. cabeça (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/) and cabeção (/ka.be.'saŋ/, /ka.be.'θaŋ/) 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 34534, 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/. cabeção is at rank #34,173, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ka.be.'saŋ/, /ka.be.'θaŋ/.

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 34534, this pair ranks #32,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabeça vs cabeção

Shared letters: abceç. Private to "cabeça": -. Private to "cabeção": oã.

"cabeça" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cabeção" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabeça" and "cabeção" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/ versus /ka.be.'saŋ/, /ka.be.'θaŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cabeça" vs "cabeção" - which ranks higher?
"cabeça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #361 in our Portuguese list, against #34,173 for "cabeção". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabeça" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cabeção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabeça" and "cabeção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabeção vs caução". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #32,701 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