capa vs cepa, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“capa” is a verb and “cepa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,840
“capa” frequency rank: #40,036
“cepa” frequency rank: 41876
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	capa	cepa
Definition	terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo de capar	tronco de videira

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set capa and cepa apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

capa

4 ch

cepa

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capa is /ˈka.pɐ/ while cepa is /ˈse.pɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “capa” becomes e in “cepa”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41876, 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/. cepa is at rank #40,036, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.pɐ/.

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 41876, this pair ranks #23,991 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of capa vs cepa

Shared letters: acp. Private to "capa": -. Private to "cepa": e.

"capa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cepa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

capa ← acpa · caap · cappa · ccapa · cpaa
cepa ← ccepa · ceap · ceppa · cpea · ecpa

Frequency comparison

capa#1,840

cepa#40,036

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capa" and "cepa" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capa" is a verb and "cepa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "capa" or "cepa"?

"capa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,840 in our Portuguese list, against #40,036 for "cepa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering capa vs cepa

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “capa”; for a noun, it's “cepa”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “capa” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable