capavscavarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,840
“capa” frequency rank
#23,601
“cavar” frequency rank
25441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capa cavar
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo de capar abrir ou revolver a terra com enxada ou sacho; escavar; sachar

Where the eye mixes capa and cavar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
capa
5 ch
cavar

Visual trap between capa and cavar

A purely visual mix-up. capa (/ˈka.pɐ/) and cavar (/kɐ.ˈvaɾ/) 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 25441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capa is recorded at frequency rank #1,840, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈka.pɐ/. cavar is at rank #23,601, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɐ.ˈvaɾ/.

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 25441, this pair ranks #43,868 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of capa vs cavar

Shared letters: ac. Private to "capa": p. Private to "cavar": rv.

"capa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cavar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capaacpa · caap · cappa · ccapa · cpaa
  • cavaracvar · caavr · cavarr · cavra · cavvar · ccavar · cvaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capa" and "cavar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.pɐ/ versus /kɐ.ˈvaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "capa" vs "cavar" - which ranks higher?
"capa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,840 in our Portuguese list, against #23,601 for "cavar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "capa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cavar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,868 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capa" and "cavar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagão vs cavar". 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 #43,868 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