capelãovscapetaWhat's the difference?

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

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set capelão and capeta apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
capelão
6 ch
capeta

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • capetaacpeta · caepta · capeat · capetta · cappeta · captea · ccapeta · cpaeta

Frequency comparison

capelão#25,222
capeta#42,823

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capelão" and "capeta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capelão" is a noun and "capeta" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "capelão" or "capeta"?
"capelão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,222 in our Portuguese list, against #42,823 for "capeta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering capelão vs capeta

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “capelão”; for an adjective, it's “capeta”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “capelão” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list