capavscópiaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: capa is a verb, cópia is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,840
“capa” frequency rank
#3,320
“cópia” frequency rank
5160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capa cópia
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo de capar ato ou efeito de copiar

Where the eye mixes capa and cópia

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

4 ch
capa
5 ch
cópia

Why the eye confuses capa with cópia

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capa is /ˈka.pɐ/ while cópia is /ˈkɔ.pjɐ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5160, 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/. cópia is at rank #3,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.pjɐ/.

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 5160, this pair ranks #69,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of capa vs cópia

Shared letters: acp. Private to "capa": -. Private to "cópia": .

"capa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cópia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capaacpa · caap · cappa · ccapa · cpaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "capa" for "cópia" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capa" is a verb and "cópia" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "capa" or "cópia"?
"capa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,840 in our Portuguese list, against #3,320 for "cópia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "capa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cópia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capa" and "cópia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs cópia". 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 #69,535 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