capãovscauçãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,358
“capão” frequency rank
#43,325
“caução” frequency rank
62683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capão caução
Definition galo (ou cavalo) castrado para que não se reproduza e brigue com outros machos valor depositado como garantia de realização de um compromisso

Letter map: capão vs caução

Shared letters muted; letters that set capão and caução apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. capão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against caução's 6 (CVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
capão
6 ch
caução

Pair insight - capão / caução

capão and caução are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62683, 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/. caução is at rank #43,325, tagged as anoun.

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 62683, this pair ranks #6,539 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of capão vs caução

Shared letters: acoã. Private to "capão": p. Private to "caução": uç.

"capão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "caução" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "capão" for "caução" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "capão" or "caução"?
"capão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,358 in our Portuguese list, against #43,325 for "caução". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "capão" and "caução". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "capão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caução" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,539 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capão" and "caução" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caução vs caudal". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #6,539 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