cabeçavscabedalWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#361
“cabeça” frequency rank
#40,456
“cabedal” frequency rank
40817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabeça cabedal
Definition parte do corpo humano, onde se localizam o cérebro, protegido pelo crânio, e a face, ligada ao tronco pelo pescoço nome genérico das peles curtidas usadas em calçado, arreios, etc.

Where the eye mixes cabeça and cabedal

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

6 ch
cabeça
7 ch
cabedal

Why the eye confuses cabeça with cabedal

A purely visual mix-up. cabeça (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/) and cabedal (/kɐ.bɨ.ˈdaɫ/) 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 40817, 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/. cabedal is at rank #40,456, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.bɨ.ˈdaɫ/.

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 40817, this pair ranks #25,225 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabeça vs cabedal

Shared letters: abce. Private to "cabeça": ç. Private to "cabedal": dl.

"cabeça" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cabedal" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabedal ← acbedal · cabbedal · cabdeal · cabeadl · cabedall · cabeddal · cabedla · caebdal

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cabeça" for "cabedal" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/ versus /kɐ.bɨ.ˈdaɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cabeça" or "cabedal"?
"cabeça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #361 in our Portuguese list, against #40,456 for "cabedal". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "cabedal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,225 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabeça" and "cabedal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabedal vs caudal". 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 #25,225 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