Which to use
“cabelo” and “castelo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #930
- “cabelo” frequency rank
- #2,822
- “castelo” frequency rank
- 3752
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabelo | castelo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pelos que crescem na cabeça do ser humano | habitação antiga fortificada |
Where the eye mixes cabelo and castelo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cabelo with castelo
A purely visual mix-up. cabelo (/kɐ.ˈbe.lu/) and castelo (/kɐʃ.ˈtɛ.lu/) 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 3752, 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/. castelo is at rank #2,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐʃ.ˈtɛ.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 3752, this pair ranks #71,346 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cabelo vs castelo
Shared letters: acelo. Private to "cabelo": b. Private to "castelo": st.
"cabelo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "castelo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cabelo" for "castelo" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cabelo" or "castelo"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cabelo" and "castelo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabelo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "castelo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,346 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabelo" and "castelo" 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 #71,346 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.