capvsclãTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,259
“cap” frequency rank
#8,588
“clã” frequency rank
15847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cap clã
Definition bode ou carneiro, especialmente velho ou castrado grupo de famílias que se consideram descendentes dos mesmos ancestrais

Where the eye mixes cap and clã

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

3 ch
cap
3 ch
clã

Why the eye confuses cap with clã

A purely visual mix-up. cap (/t͡sap/) and clã (/ˈklɐ̃/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15847, 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/. clã is at rank #8,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɐ̃/.

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 15847, this pair ranks #55,874 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cap vs clã

Shared letters: c. Private to "cap": ap. Private to "clã": .

"cap" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "clã" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cap" for "clã" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/t͡sap/ versus /ˈklɐ̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cap" or "clã" show up more?
"cap" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,259 in our Portuguese list, against #8,588 for "clã". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cap" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clã" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,874 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cap" and "clã" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chau vs clã". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,874 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