cabeçavscabeloWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#361
“cabeça” frequency rank
#930
“cabelo” frequency rank
1291
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabeça cabelo
Definition parte do corpo humano, onde se localizam o cérebro, protegido pelo crânio, e a face, ligada ao tronco pelo pescoço pelos que crescem na cabeça do ser humano

Where the eye mixes cabeça and cabelo

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

6 ch
cabeça
6 ch
cabelo

Look-alike desk: cabeça vs cabelo

A purely visual mix-up. cabeça (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/) and cabelo (/kɐ.ˈbe.lu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1291, 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/. cabelo is at rank #930, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbe.lu/.

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 1291, this pair ranks #74,291 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cabeça vs cabelo

Shared letters: abce. Private to "cabeça": ç. Private to "cabelo": lo.

"cabeça" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cabelo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabeloacbelo · cabbelo · cabello · cabeol · cableo · caeblo · cbaelo · ccabelo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabeça" and "cabelo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈbe.sɐ/ versus /kɐ.ˈbe.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cabeça" vs "cabelo" - which ranks higher?
"cabeça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #361 in our Portuguese list, against #930 for "cabelo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cabeça" and "cabelo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabeça" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cabelo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,291 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabeça" and "cabelo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabelo vs Cibele". 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 #74,291 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