capãovscapôTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,358
“capão” frequency rank
#31,676
“capô” frequency rank
51034
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capão capô
Definition galo (ou cavalo) castrado para que não se reproduza e brigue com outros machos cobertura que protege o motor de um veículo

Where the eye mixes capão and capô

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. capão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against capô's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
capão
4 ch
capô

Visual trap between capão and capô

A purely visual mix-up. capão (/kɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/) and capô (/ka.ˈpo/) 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 51034, 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/. capô is at rank #31,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ka.ˈpo/.

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 51034, this pair ranks #13,954 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of capão vs capô

Shared letters: acp. Private to "capão": oã. Private to "capô": ô.

"capão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "capô" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "capão" for "capô" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/ versus /ka.ˈpo/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "capão" or "capô"?
"capão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,358 in our Portuguese list, against #31,676 for "capô". 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 "capão" and "capô" 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 "capô" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,954 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capão" and "capô" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capô vs ciao". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #13,954 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