Which to use
“capelão” is a noun and “catalão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,222
- “capelão” frequency rank
- #11,024
- “catalão” frequency rank
- 36246
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | capelão | catalão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | padre encarregado de rezar missas em capelas e prestar assistência espiritual a regimentos militares, escolas, hospitais, etc | relacionado à Catalunha, região da Espanha |
Where the eye mixes capelão and catalão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. capelão and catalão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: capelão vs catalão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capelão is /kɐ.pɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/ while catalão is /ka.ta.ˈlãw/. 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 36246, 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/. catalão is at rank #11,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ka.ta.ˈlãw/.
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 36246, this pair ranks #30,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of capelão vs catalão
Shared letters: acloã. Private to "capelão": ep. Private to "catalão": t.
"capelão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "catalão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "capelão" and "catalão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "capelão" or "catalão" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "catalão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "capelão" and "catalão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capelão vs capeta". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #30,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.