CamposvscampusTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,383
“Campos” frequency rank
#3,127
“campus” frequency rank
4510
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Campos campus
Definition sobrenome comum em português campo, planície

Where the eye mixes Campos and campus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Campos and campus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Campos
6 ch
campus

Visual trap between Campos and campus

A purely visual mix-up. Campos (/ˈkɐ̃.pus/) and campus (/ˈkam.pus/, [ˈkam.pʊs]) 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 a single letter - o in “Campos” becomes u in “campus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Campos is recorded at frequency rank #1,383, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ̃.pus/. campus is at rank #3,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkam.pus/, [ˈkam.pʊs].

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 4510, this pair ranks #70,364 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Campos vs campus

Shared letters: acmps. Private to "Campos": o. Private to "campus": u.

"Campos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "campus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Campos ← acmpos · cammpos · camops · camposs · camppos · campso · capmos · ccampos
  • campus ← acmpus · cammpus · camppus · campsu · campuss · camups · capmus · ccampus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Campos" for "campus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɐ̃.pus/ versus /ˈkam.pus/, [ˈkam.pʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Campos" vs "campus" - which ranks higher?
"Campos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,383 in our Portuguese list, against #3,127 for "campus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Campos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "campus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,364 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Campos" and "campus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cactus vs campus". 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 #70,364 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