cápsulavscapturaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,245
“cápsula” frequency rank
#4,979
“captura” frequency rank
16224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cápsula captura
Definition um fruto seco composto por mais de um carpelo ação ou efeito de capturar

Where the eye mixes cápsula and captura

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cápsula
7 ch
captura

Look-alike desk: cápsula vs captura

A purely visual mix-up. cápsula (/ˈka.psu.lɐ/) and captura (/kaˈp.tu.ɾɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cápsula is recorded at frequency rank #11,245, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.psu.lɐ/. captura is at rank #4,979, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kaˈp.tu.ɾɐ/.

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 16224, this pair ranks #55,382 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cápsula vs captura

Shared letters: acpu. Private to "cápsula": lsá. Private to "captura": rt.

"cápsula" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "captura" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capturaacptura · capptura · captrua · capttura · captuar · capturra · caputra · catpura

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cápsula" for "captura" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.psu.lɐ/ versus /kaˈp.tu.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cápsula" or "captura"?
"captura" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,979 in our Portuguese list, against #11,245 for "cápsula". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cápsula" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "captura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,382 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cápsula" and "captura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cápsula vs casulo". 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 #55,382 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