caçarvscaptarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,115
“caçar” frequency rank
#10,666
“captar” frequency rank
17781
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caçar captar
Definition perseguir uma presa e, usualmente, matá-la atrair por captação

Where the eye mixes caçar and captar

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

5 ch
caçar
6 ch
captar

Look-alike desk: caçar vs captar

A purely visual mix-up. caçar (/kɐ.ˈsaɾ/) and captar (/kɐ.pˈtaɾ/) 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 17781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caçar is recorded at frequency rank #7,115, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐ.ˈsaɾ/. captar is at rank #10,666, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɐ.pˈtaɾ/.

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 17781, this pair ranks #53,374 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caçar vs captar

Shared letters: acr. Private to "caçar": ç. Private to "captar": pt.

"caçar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "captar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • captaracptar · capatr · capptar · captarr · captra · capttar · catpar · ccaptar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caçar" and "captar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈsaɾ/ versus /kɐ.pˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caçar" or "captar"?
"caçar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,115 in our Portuguese list, against #10,666 for "captar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caçar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "captar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,374 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caçar" and "captar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "captar vs copta". 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 #53,374 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