capãovscapazWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: capão is a noun, capaz is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“capão” is a noun and “capaz” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,358
“capão” frequency rank
#1,041
“capaz” frequency rank
20399
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capão capaz
Definition galo (ou cavalo) castrado para que não se reproduza e brigue com outros machos que tem o conhecimento ou habilidade para fazer algo

Where the eye mixes capão and capaz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. capão (CVCVV) and capaz (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
capão
5 ch
capaz

Visual trap between capão and capaz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capão is /kɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/ while capaz is /kɐ.ˈpaʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capão is recorded at frequency rank #19,358, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/. capaz is at rank #1,041, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɐ.ˈpaʃ/.

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 20399, this pair ranks #50,138 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of capão vs capaz

Shared letters: acp. Private to "capão": oã. Private to "capaz": z.

"capão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "capaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capaz ← acpaz · caapz · capazz · cappaz · capza · ccapaz · cpaaz

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "capão" and "capaz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capão" is a noun and "capaz" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "capão" or "capaz"?
"capaz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,041 in our Portuguese list, against #19,358 for "capão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "capão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "capaz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,138 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capão" and "capaz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capão vs ciao". 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 #50,138 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