Which to use
“cabelo” is a noun and “caboclo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #930
- “cabelo” frequency rank
- #19,640
- “caboclo” frequency rank
- 20570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabelo | caboclo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pelos que crescem na cabeça do ser humano | que tem a cor do cobre, acobreado |
Where the eye mixes cabelo and caboclo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cabelo runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against caboclo's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cabelo vs caboclo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cabelo is /kɐ.ˈbe.lu/ while caboclo is /kɐˈboklu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cabelo is recorded at frequency rank #930, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈbe.lu/. caboclo is at rank #19,640, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐˈboklu/.
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 20570, this pair ranks #49,908 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cabelo vs caboclo
Shared letters: abclo. Private to "cabelo": e. Private to "caboclo": -.
"cabelo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "caboclo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cabelo" for "caboclo" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cabelo" or "caboclo"?
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 "cabelo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caboclo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,908 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabelo" and "caboclo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabeção vs caboclo". 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 #49,908 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.