campeãovscapelãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,634
“campeão” frequency rank
#25,222
“capelão” frequency rank
26856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature campeão capelão
Definition aquele que ganha uma competição padre encarregado de rezar missas em capelas e prestar assistência espiritual a regimentos militares, escolas, hospitais, etc

Where the eye mixes campeão and capelão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. campeão (CVCCVVV) and capelão (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
campeão
7 ch
capelão

Visual trap between campeão and capelão

A purely visual mix-up. campeão (/kɐ̃peɐ̃w/.) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

campeão is recorded at frequency rank #1,634, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ̃peɐ̃w/.. 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 26856, this pair ranks #42,228 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of campeão vs capelão

Shared letters: aceopã. Private to "campeão": m. Private to "capelão": l.

"campeão" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV  ·  "capelão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "campeão" and "capelão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ̃peɐ̃w/. versus /kɐ.pɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "campeão" or "capelão" show up more?
"campeão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,634 in our Portuguese list, against #25,222 for "capelão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "campeão" 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 #42,228 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "campeão" and "capelão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capelão vs capeta". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #42,228 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