capvsciWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cap is a noun, ci is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cap” is a noun and “ci” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,259
“cap” frequency rank
#19,655
“ci” frequency rank
26914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cap ci
Definition bode ou carneiro, especialmente velho ou castrado tu, pronome pessoal sujeito da segunda pessoa do singular:

Where the eye mixes cap and ci

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
cap
2 ch
ci

Look-alike desk: cap vs ci

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cap is /t͡sap/ while ci is /tsi/. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cap is recorded at frequency rank #7,259, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡sap/. ci is at rank #19,655, tagged as apron, pronounced /tsi/.

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 26914, this pair ranks #42,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cap vs ci

Shared letters: c. Private to "cap": ap. Private to "ci": i.

"cap" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "ci" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cap" for "ci" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cap" is a noun and "ci" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cap" or "ci" show up more?
"cap" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,259 in our Portuguese list, against #19,655 for "ci". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cap" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ci" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cap" and "ci" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ci vs ciao". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #42,144 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