Which to use
“capelão” is a noun and “capeta” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,222
- “capelão” frequency rank
- #42,823
- “capeta” frequency rank
- 68045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | capelão | capeta |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | padre encarregado de rezar missas em capelas e prestar assistência espiritual a regimentos militares, escolas, hospitais, etc | sapeca, peralta, endiabrado |
Where the eye mixes capelão and capeta
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. capelão runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against capeta's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses capelão with capeta
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capelão is /kɐ.pɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/ while capeta is \ka.'pe.ta\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
capelão is recorded at frequency rank #25,222, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.pɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. capeta is at rank #42,823, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ka.'pe.ta\.
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 68045, this pair ranks #4,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of capelão vs capeta
Shared letters: acep. Private to "capelão": loã. Private to "capeta": t.
"capelão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "capeta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- capeta ← acpeta · caepta · capeat · capetta · cappeta · captea · ccapeta · cpaeta
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "capelão" for "capeta" ever safe?
Frequency check: "capelão" vs "capeta" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "capelão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "capeta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "capelão" and "capeta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capeta vs copta". 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 #4,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.