Which to use
“cabeção” and “capelão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,173
- “cabeção” frequency rank
- #25,222
- “capelão” frequency rank
- 59395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabeção | capelão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | testarudo, teimoso | padre encarregado de rezar missas em capelas e prestar assistência espiritual a regimentos militares, escolas, hospitais, etc |
Where the eye mixes cabeção and capelão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cabeção and capelão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cabeção vs capelão
A purely visual mix-up. cabeção (/ka.be.'saŋ/, /ka.be.'θaŋ/) and capelão (/kɐ.pɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) 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 59395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cabeção is recorded at frequency rank #34,173, classified as anoun, pronounced /ka.be.'saŋ/, /ka.be.'θaŋ/. capelão is at rank #25,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.pɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 59395, this pair ranks #8,204 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cabeção vs capelão
Shared letters: aceoã. Private to "cabeção": bç. Private to "capelão": lp.
"cabeção" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "capelão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cabeção" and "capelão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cabeção" vs "capelão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabeção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "capelão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,204 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabeção" and "capelão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabeção vs caução". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #8,204 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.